The Saviors love is such a powerful thing. I am very grateful for the infinite love of Him who created us. This month has just been one thing after another. It never seems to get easier. I am so sorry to all those that are going though such a hard time. But Broken things are Made to Mend.
The principle of Love is one that I have come even more to realize. It's not something that can be put into words, a cake, some cookies, a letter, or in the sky by an airplane. It is a word of Action. I love that the Savior even said "If you love me, Keep my Commandments." He has helped me to realize more and more every single day that the only way to really show or to tell someone that you love them is to help them in a way that might hurt or hinder you. I have been studying alot of talks from the General Conference in April and last night I had a very vivid dream about the principles in one one of them and these are the six things.
1. The temple is the place.
2. To contend, you need two people, and I will never be one of them.
3. A child who sings is a happy child.
4. I need you to hug me.
5. I love the Book of Mormon and my Savior, Jesus Christ.
6. It is not enough to know the scriptures; we have to live them.
I really do believe that all of those principles will be the key to happiness. The are the Actions of Love. Learning to leave what you want to be doing and doing what you should be doing by going to the Temple. Realizing that a fight unpicked is a fought won! Singing is truly a prayer unto the Most High and releases us from Temptation. Physical touch is as powerful as any earthy expression of love. The Book of Mormon and Jesus Christ show us the way to help us and others receive Eternal Life. The scriptures are the handbook to happiness. If I follow those 6 things I know that I can be the happiest man on earth! Anyone can. It's really not that hard.
We had alot of different things happen this week. It has just been one thing after another. We got to have our interviews with President Slaughter but mine was a little bit different. On the way there I was getting in the car with the sisters, and they had a few things like a purse, and a box and stuff in the back seat and so I was moving them and getting in when the driver took off and smacked my door into a pole. Now that wouldn't have been a big deal, except that my head was between the car door and the frame of the car, so it smashed my head in between. I just kinda rolled into the car, they were kinda freaking out and my head hurt really, really bad. So we showed up for the interviews and I just sat there, I wanted to puke, cry, and it all just hurt so bad. I sat there for like 45 minutes and then went in for my interview, I asked President Slaughter for a blessing, and he gave me one. He told me that I was healed completely and that I would be able to gp out and work. When we got out of the blessing he wanted me to sit around for a bit and he wanted to see if I was going to be ok. I told him I didn't need to, because he told me in the blessing I was going to be ok. So I just left, My head still hurt pretty bad so I prayed, and went to sleep for my lunch break, and when I stood up everything was ok, I could see fine, I wasn't sick and I didn't have a head ache. So we got to go out and work! I am incredible grateful for faith in the Holy Priesthood. It will change lives and even save them.
A funny one that happened was we were walking down the street, and once again we were miles away from home and it started to down pour. It was terrible. So we hid underneath a tree and I know you aren't supposed to do that in a storm, but I think the Lord won't strike our tree, He needs me to much. So anyway we got sick of that and started walking figuring to get drenched anyway and a car pulled up and asked us if we wanted a ride somewhere. We jumped into the car, and told him what we do and he was blown away. We asked him to drop us off on the corner but he wouldn't do that and took us to Panda Express with him. It was pretty funny. We talked for a while about everything and then he told us that he had to go shopping and since now we were way away from our house we had no choice, so we looked at Legos for like a half hour. They aren't not the same as when I was a kid!
Sunday I told Elder Dayton I wasn't sticking around at church if we didn't have any investigators again. I am so sick of being there when we don't have people. Honestly it's almost a waste of the Lord's time. I'm not there to be getting spiritual nourishment for me right now. So we called everyone and no one was going to come. We showed up to church and no one was there. AGAIN. But the Lord hears and answers prayers and fasting and the Taco Cabana boy from last week showed up again and was like "Funk! Ya know I kinda like it here. I decided to come again!" We spent the rest of the church time together. I know that the Lord does answer my prayers. I didn't will him to do that.. I am just grateful that He gave me a chance to see some hope! PLUS. He said that he met the Pope one time and compared to the feeling that he felt at sacrament meeting it was like "talking to his Grandpa." The spirit really helped him understand what he needs to do in life to be happy just as it does to all of us!
Really there have been to many lessons that you learn when you are on a mission to throw them all into an email. I wish that I could just like invest my soul into the computer and you could see into my mind and my heart. Hearing the stories of the suffering, whether here or at home is so humbling to realize that I have such a great privilege to be serving in the Lord's Vineyard. I really do know with all of my heart that he looks for the hands that hang down so that he can carry them to greater heights. My mission has changed me for the better every single day. I wouldn't trade anything that I lost for the things that I have gained. There is way to many things. The Savior often times has to let us feel alone so that we really can know who walks beside us. I now know my Savior. I walk with him every day. He is by my side, reprimanding me, counseling me, teaching me, but most of all, loving me. He doesn't just tell me he loves me. He doesn't show that he loves me, but he works with me to show me that he loves me. I know with all my soul and heart that he loves me and he loves each and every one of you. I testify of that, and bear my witness in the name of Jesus Christ Amen.
Elder Funk
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Monday, September 30, 2013
Monday, September 23, 2013
Snake in the Grass
Well another week is over already. It seemed to drag on and on forever but in reality it went by pretty quick. It's amazing how quick the night seems to come on every day. And it has cooled down so that has been a blessing.
Monday we didn't do much. We went to the mall. I tried to barter some sweet cologne from one of those stands. She started at 84 and we worked it down to 39. It smelled so sweet. I woulda bought it if I had been home or anywhere else. I think it was the tie that was doing all the work. Really was a pretty boring P day. We don't really have anywhere fun to go and do stuff. And it's with the sisters, so it's like I don't want to go out and look like a date... Yeah. It's sorta weird. It's almost similar to a date, but it's more like a business meeting... I don't know how to have normal conversations anymore so that helps keep it real!
Tuesday it was the start of the rain! It dumped on our little neck of the woods all week. Now.. I have learned that just because it is raining doesn't mean that it is necessarily cold. Doesn't make sense at all but yeah. So if I am wearing my jacket, which was meant for Utah I get kept dry from the rain but my body is drenched in sweat. Haha a no win. But it was cool so whatever! (No mom I don't need a new jacket:) ) We had a sweet lesson with Gloria, a member's cousin. She is going to get baptized eventually and we had a good lesson about the Levitcal Priesthood and how that interconnects with the greater priesthood. And the restoration was in there too. It was a great lesson. Well we found out later that it was anyway, the member told us that we answered all of her questions and that she was super excited about it all. That is perfect because I have no idea what I was talking about sometimes. OH! we also had District meeting. It was ok. Just basically a meeting but after we went to this burger joint named Chesters and a member bought all of our food for us! Super awesome! So we sat there 6 of us and there wasn't a whole lot of conversation then slowly one by one we all started the ohs and the ahs that come with Sportscenter highlights. Yep. We all watched about a half hour of sportscenter.. It was glorious. I wish the Yanks were doing better, and my Eagles could win a couple more games!
Wednesday was back to the grind. We had to go and email this survey because Elder Golden Jr. is coming in November, he gave that talk about the Father and The Son last general conference which was awesome. I really enjoyed it. So we had to bike like an hour to get up here. It was a long day. But toward the end we got to teach a lesson to this family. The Magana's. She is a widow and has 4 kids. We taught the plan and by the end they were all in tears because the pirit was so strong. They didn't come to church.. So I guess we will have to see what happened, but it was a great lesson. I really like them alot. We stepped outside and the minute we did the heavens unleashed. The thing about San Antonio is that the ground is so hard that the water all stays around and floods all the streets so we were biking in like mid calf water. It was terrible. I have never been so wet in my entire life. Worse than the last time that we got soaked. Not fun. But whatever it was worth it. We just undressed outside and went about our buisness. People think that we are nuts. Well in reality we might be. So... yeah.
Thursday was weekly planning. I woke up in a kinda fog and just felt down all day, so weekly planning was less than successful. Whatever. We will see how that goes. If anybody wants to know, weekly planning is basically the longest three hours of your life. It is like watching a golf tournament, knowing who is going to win, how they are going to win, and that the whole thing is going to be nullified by a steroid scandal. But you still have to watch it. That is sorta how I feel about weekly planning. Whatever though. So then we were going to bless a LA house and then he canceled on us, luckily we went to the Sherrils my favorite members and they fed us some Pizza and wings. Yep it was good. Made the night worth it. We biked back up to Schertz and ended up knocking into one of our potentials who let us in! Turns out she is a closet member and has been in hiding for years. We taught the whole family the Plan, it was super fun, and after I asked her daughter how she felt about it and she said, "It gives me hope. I always thought it was one and done!" Yeah. The plan is the best part of the gospel. If I had to pick a favorite that would be it. It was a great lesson, we have another appointment with them tomorrow.
Friday was eventful again. We woke up and guess what? Our fridge stopped working. All of our food was warm and yep. That sucks! So we called the office and we had to through tons of stuff away. It was no bueno. We got it fixed and they reimbursed us, which is great... Except that we don't have a car and stuff, so we had to eat out all of our meals. Gross. I just feel like Super Sized missionary style. Not fun. So after dealing with that for a while we went out and had a great conversation with one of our investigator families who is going on CNN. Found out that they weren't married and that they can't really do anything about it because the wife isn't divorced. That would have been great info the first time. So we talked about crazy food that we all wanted to try and left. Cool family though. Hopefully they will get baptized because he is a DJ and I could probably use his services and sometime in the next 5 years... District meetings don't quite count. Whatever. We taught another guy that day. I am so sick of fact seekers. I hate it. I didn't even want to be there and made that clear, but he wanted to tell us all about the bible being translated and that we could trust it. Yes sir... I do trust it. As a matter of fact, I actually follow what it says. BUT that would have been rude to say so instead, I played with some toys while Elder Dayton listened to this guy for the last half of the lesson. Really nice guy and we will be great friends. Just has to learn that Faith is a principle that cannot be overcome with any amount of factual evidence.
Saturday was bizarre. We went and helped a family move and so usually we have pizza, but they decided to spice it all up and get some good ole tacos. Texas style. So we went with an RM his non member friend (Who I am real good friends with) and us. The Rm taught the entire Resto lesson in the drive through at Taco Cabana. It was awesome! The spirit was really strong the entire time. He even let us give the Moroni Challenge. And we got 24 tacos and a large lemonade. It was fun. We went back and did some more studies after having some "Bonifide Fried Chicken" from our friendly neighbors Popeye's and yeah. Then like 2 hours later the Gorton's took us to go get some Red Robins. I had a sweet whiskey BBQ burger and a Brownie in a martini glass. They also sat us right next to the bar... Not sure why.. Mormons and a bar. Whatever it was cool. So I tell you what we ate that day for this next part to make sense. We were running late to an appointment and we had to have the Gortons drop us off at our appointment. It is like 6 or 7 miles away from home. But we figured it would be worth it if our investigator was there. He wasn't. We called and everything. But nothing he just vanished and so had our members at this point to. Now apparently the combination of nothing but fried Chicken and burgers for two days but Elder Dayton's stomach into a sense of Apostasy. It decided that it was going to reject the food. The only problem was that he had no where to go! So we had to book it like a mile and he was just like hyperventilating the whole time trying to hold himself together for both of our sakes and we had to go use and investigators house. He was there a while. I had enough time to get there whole day and everything small talkish and then they wanted me to watch a good section of "Undercover Boss" with them.. It was a long bathroom break. I was laughing hysterically the entire time though. When we walked out the door we were walking back down the street and a truck stopped at a stop sign and he asked if we wanted waters. We said sure why not! and then went over there. The only thing he had was like beer and Mike's Hard lemonade. So we had to turn him down, so he told us to wait he drove home got us tamales, capri suns and water. He pulled up with a cigarette in is hand and said,"I'm a christian and so are you, thank you for what you do! Sit right there and take a dinner break." He drove away. Pedro is an awesome guy. Hopefully we see him again. Then we finished that and still had like 5 miles to go in about an hour. So we figured we had to book it. Yeah. On the way there was an old guy that was flirting with some old lady in her car and he was on his bike blasting some lovey country song. Heck it was weird. But the epitome of Texas. We kept walking on and walked down this deserted street. I mentioned to Elder Dayton how bad it would be if we just saw a rattle snake when we started because it was so dark. Yep bet you can already tell where this is all going.... So we started walking through some weeds and cars are zipping past us left and right, super sketchy so we are off on the side. No cars came for a while so we were just talking back and forth and then way off in the distance a car started to come, and as soon as the headlights started to illuminate our path, Boom. Rattlesnake like a foot in front of us. Elder Dayton screamed "Oh. My. Hell!!!!" (In reference to the biblical symbolism of the snake... Whatever. He swore.) Then ran off to the left of it. I however had no where to go so I like jumped over it as far as I could to the right and took off running like a convict. We were screaming and yelling, he yelled at me to get out of the bushes and I finally jumped out of them. (I shoud interject here, Elder Funk HATES snakes..no REALLY hates snakes)It was terrible we just ran and ran until finally the car whose lights had shone on us caught up to us. It was this African American lady who we had talked to the day before! She was super sweet and with her husband so they picked us up and drove us home. I was terrified. I would much rather get hit by a car then see another snake.
Sunday was boring old sunday. The Taco Cabana kid came and said "Ya know out of all the churches I have gone to yours is the only one that feels good." we laughed and just told him because it is true!! So hopefully he can come around soon. Neat kid. Nathan.. haha love him to death. That was basically it. We had a dinner and the kids ended up fighting like the entire time to teenagers. They kept trying to tell us inappropriate stuff about Chimney rock I guess, and when we went to grab our scriptures for the thought you could tell the mother threatened them within an inch of their lives. Yeah they are probably still hurting from the whooping they got, but I thought that it was just like home! haha
That was basically my week. Just plugging right along.We are doing well. Elder Dayton and I are like BFF's. He has extreme OCD but pretty cool other than that. We complain about alot so yeah.. nice to have a complainer with me! Fun stuff. I don't know. Basically just the same old stuff. Different day. The trick is to endure to the end!
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Funk
Monday we didn't do much. We went to the mall. I tried to barter some sweet cologne from one of those stands. She started at 84 and we worked it down to 39. It smelled so sweet. I woulda bought it if I had been home or anywhere else. I think it was the tie that was doing all the work. Really was a pretty boring P day. We don't really have anywhere fun to go and do stuff. And it's with the sisters, so it's like I don't want to go out and look like a date... Yeah. It's sorta weird. It's almost similar to a date, but it's more like a business meeting... I don't know how to have normal conversations anymore so that helps keep it real!
Tuesday it was the start of the rain! It dumped on our little neck of the woods all week. Now.. I have learned that just because it is raining doesn't mean that it is necessarily cold. Doesn't make sense at all but yeah. So if I am wearing my jacket, which was meant for Utah I get kept dry from the rain but my body is drenched in sweat. Haha a no win. But it was cool so whatever! (No mom I don't need a new jacket:) ) We had a sweet lesson with Gloria, a member's cousin. She is going to get baptized eventually and we had a good lesson about the Levitcal Priesthood and how that interconnects with the greater priesthood. And the restoration was in there too. It was a great lesson. Well we found out later that it was anyway, the member told us that we answered all of her questions and that she was super excited about it all. That is perfect because I have no idea what I was talking about sometimes. OH! we also had District meeting. It was ok. Just basically a meeting but after we went to this burger joint named Chesters and a member bought all of our food for us! Super awesome! So we sat there 6 of us and there wasn't a whole lot of conversation then slowly one by one we all started the ohs and the ahs that come with Sportscenter highlights. Yep. We all watched about a half hour of sportscenter.. It was glorious. I wish the Yanks were doing better, and my Eagles could win a couple more games!
Wednesday was back to the grind. We had to go and email this survey because Elder Golden Jr. is coming in November, he gave that talk about the Father and The Son last general conference which was awesome. I really enjoyed it. So we had to bike like an hour to get up here. It was a long day. But toward the end we got to teach a lesson to this family. The Magana's. She is a widow and has 4 kids. We taught the plan and by the end they were all in tears because the pirit was so strong. They didn't come to church.. So I guess we will have to see what happened, but it was a great lesson. I really like them alot. We stepped outside and the minute we did the heavens unleashed. The thing about San Antonio is that the ground is so hard that the water all stays around and floods all the streets so we were biking in like mid calf water. It was terrible. I have never been so wet in my entire life. Worse than the last time that we got soaked. Not fun. But whatever it was worth it. We just undressed outside and went about our buisness. People think that we are nuts. Well in reality we might be. So... yeah.
Thursday was weekly planning. I woke up in a kinda fog and just felt down all day, so weekly planning was less than successful. Whatever. We will see how that goes. If anybody wants to know, weekly planning is basically the longest three hours of your life. It is like watching a golf tournament, knowing who is going to win, how they are going to win, and that the whole thing is going to be nullified by a steroid scandal. But you still have to watch it. That is sorta how I feel about weekly planning. Whatever though. So then we were going to bless a LA house and then he canceled on us, luckily we went to the Sherrils my favorite members and they fed us some Pizza and wings. Yep it was good. Made the night worth it. We biked back up to Schertz and ended up knocking into one of our potentials who let us in! Turns out she is a closet member and has been in hiding for years. We taught the whole family the Plan, it was super fun, and after I asked her daughter how she felt about it and she said, "It gives me hope. I always thought it was one and done!" Yeah. The plan is the best part of the gospel. If I had to pick a favorite that would be it. It was a great lesson, we have another appointment with them tomorrow.
Friday was eventful again. We woke up and guess what? Our fridge stopped working. All of our food was warm and yep. That sucks! So we called the office and we had to through tons of stuff away. It was no bueno. We got it fixed and they reimbursed us, which is great... Except that we don't have a car and stuff, so we had to eat out all of our meals. Gross. I just feel like Super Sized missionary style. Not fun. So after dealing with that for a while we went out and had a great conversation with one of our investigator families who is going on CNN. Found out that they weren't married and that they can't really do anything about it because the wife isn't divorced. That would have been great info the first time. So we talked about crazy food that we all wanted to try and left. Cool family though. Hopefully they will get baptized because he is a DJ and I could probably use his services and sometime in the next 5 years... District meetings don't quite count. Whatever. We taught another guy that day. I am so sick of fact seekers. I hate it. I didn't even want to be there and made that clear, but he wanted to tell us all about the bible being translated and that we could trust it. Yes sir... I do trust it. As a matter of fact, I actually follow what it says. BUT that would have been rude to say so instead, I played with some toys while Elder Dayton listened to this guy for the last half of the lesson. Really nice guy and we will be great friends. Just has to learn that Faith is a principle that cannot be overcome with any amount of factual evidence.
Saturday was bizarre. We went and helped a family move and so usually we have pizza, but they decided to spice it all up and get some good ole tacos. Texas style. So we went with an RM his non member friend (Who I am real good friends with) and us. The Rm taught the entire Resto lesson in the drive through at Taco Cabana. It was awesome! The spirit was really strong the entire time. He even let us give the Moroni Challenge. And we got 24 tacos and a large lemonade. It was fun. We went back and did some more studies after having some "Bonifide Fried Chicken" from our friendly neighbors Popeye's and yeah. Then like 2 hours later the Gorton's took us to go get some Red Robins. I had a sweet whiskey BBQ burger and a Brownie in a martini glass. They also sat us right next to the bar... Not sure why.. Mormons and a bar. Whatever it was cool. So I tell you what we ate that day for this next part to make sense. We were running late to an appointment and we had to have the Gortons drop us off at our appointment. It is like 6 or 7 miles away from home. But we figured it would be worth it if our investigator was there. He wasn't. We called and everything. But nothing he just vanished and so had our members at this point to. Now apparently the combination of nothing but fried Chicken and burgers for two days but Elder Dayton's stomach into a sense of Apostasy. It decided that it was going to reject the food. The only problem was that he had no where to go! So we had to book it like a mile and he was just like hyperventilating the whole time trying to hold himself together for both of our sakes and we had to go use and investigators house. He was there a while. I had enough time to get there whole day and everything small talkish and then they wanted me to watch a good section of "Undercover Boss" with them.. It was a long bathroom break. I was laughing hysterically the entire time though. When we walked out the door we were walking back down the street and a truck stopped at a stop sign and he asked if we wanted waters. We said sure why not! and then went over there. The only thing he had was like beer and Mike's Hard lemonade. So we had to turn him down, so he told us to wait he drove home got us tamales, capri suns and water. He pulled up with a cigarette in is hand and said,"I'm a christian and so are you, thank you for what you do! Sit right there and take a dinner break." He drove away. Pedro is an awesome guy. Hopefully we see him again. Then we finished that and still had like 5 miles to go in about an hour. So we figured we had to book it. Yeah. On the way there was an old guy that was flirting with some old lady in her car and he was on his bike blasting some lovey country song. Heck it was weird. But the epitome of Texas. We kept walking on and walked down this deserted street. I mentioned to Elder Dayton how bad it would be if we just saw a rattle snake when we started because it was so dark. Yep bet you can already tell where this is all going.... So we started walking through some weeds and cars are zipping past us left and right, super sketchy so we are off on the side. No cars came for a while so we were just talking back and forth and then way off in the distance a car started to come, and as soon as the headlights started to illuminate our path, Boom. Rattlesnake like a foot in front of us. Elder Dayton screamed "Oh. My. Hell!!!!" (In reference to the biblical symbolism of the snake... Whatever. He swore.) Then ran off to the left of it. I however had no where to go so I like jumped over it as far as I could to the right and took off running like a convict. We were screaming and yelling, he yelled at me to get out of the bushes and I finally jumped out of them. (I shoud interject here, Elder Funk HATES snakes..no REALLY hates snakes)It was terrible we just ran and ran until finally the car whose lights had shone on us caught up to us. It was this African American lady who we had talked to the day before! She was super sweet and with her husband so they picked us up and drove us home. I was terrified. I would much rather get hit by a car then see another snake.
Sunday was boring old sunday. The Taco Cabana kid came and said "Ya know out of all the churches I have gone to yours is the only one that feels good." we laughed and just told him because it is true!! So hopefully he can come around soon. Neat kid. Nathan.. haha love him to death. That was basically it. We had a dinner and the kids ended up fighting like the entire time to teenagers. They kept trying to tell us inappropriate stuff about Chimney rock I guess, and when we went to grab our scriptures for the thought you could tell the mother threatened them within an inch of their lives. Yeah they are probably still hurting from the whooping they got, but I thought that it was just like home! haha
That was basically my week. Just plugging right along.We are doing well. Elder Dayton and I are like BFF's. He has extreme OCD but pretty cool other than that. We complain about alot so yeah.. nice to have a complainer with me! Fun stuff. I don't know. Basically just the same old stuff. Different day. The trick is to endure to the end!
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Funk
Monday, September 16, 2013
Embarrassing Moment
Hey Family!
Well it was a better week, with a better attitude. I think that is just the only thing that can really change is that. Alot of times circumstances are just pushed upon us and we just have to deal with it. It is hard and it really is something that is hard to manage but whatever we do there is always going to be opposition!
Really the only way to grow is first to be cut down. Even the Savior could not have gone through the agony on Golgotha if he had not first sufficiently humbled himself in the garden and was further beaten by the guards of the Roman Empire. We were discussing the long mission of Ammon and how many discouraging days he probably had before he had the chance to work for the king himself. Finally once he got that chance he was entrusted with the flocks who knows how long it was before the robbers came and he was able to prove himself a loyal servant. That probably doesn't happen every day that robbers go to your king's flocks. Everything takes time and if you only look in the moment that is where a lot of discouragement and depression comes in. It's interesting because a lot of days we spend talking about an experience that we had or what we would do if we were dads or what not, and it is always joyful, but I'm sure that in the future it will be just as hard as it is here. It always is. In the moment we get cut down, it is so hard but it really is only to make us a better person. Remolded of sorts.
We had a funny thing happen to us.. well me. on Tuesday. It was terrible. So we were getting ready to leave after or dinner appointment and a car drove past us honking like crazy and it was two really attractive girls! So of course we kinda ignore it. (This happens basically daily;) But they kept honking even after they had gone into the apartment complex. So naturally this is the thought I had. " Oh! They must be members! I should go talk to them and see if I can't get some referrals!!" Really and honestly that was my thought. Elder Dayton was still getting ready to go and so I jumped on one pedal and had my helmet hanging from the handle bars and went over on the other side of the fence and said "Hey! Were yall honking at us?" It didn't quite come out in the tone I had wished for... Sorta flirty. But then one of the said back "...Maybe..." With sorta a sly smile. Literally I freaked. I choked worse than Shaq on the free throw line. That was probably the only response I had no idea how to deal with. So what did I do? I said nothing. Waved and then ran like prisoner from alcatraz. I really don't get embarrassed but it was terrible. SO BAD. I flew past Elder Dayton who was still working on his bike and just said "Get out of here!" Really.. I pedaled so fast I looked back and he was gone after like a mile. Single most embarrassing moment of my life. He finally caught up and I told him what happened and he was crying he was laughing so hard. Really. I can't even talk to someone like a normal person anymore haha.
The rest of the week was pretty mundane. We taught one of our investigators about the first three points of the restoration and then Elder Dayton asked a question and somehow he got offended. I was like shoooot. But hey.. Stuff happens sometimes. It's crazy because I could tell how much it hurt him that he had said it and it was just that I was filled with so much love and was completely on his side, just to help him. It is so great the love that the Savior can really fill you with. I love it.
We have another Investigator named Jacob that is doing.. Interestingly. He came to church yesterday and stuff but he got a hold of a ton of anti and is super smart, he wants to get baptized but is concerned about the Aaronic Priesthood being legitimate because the knight's templar had a similar thing and.. I won't even get into it. Somehow I have picked up just enough knowledge about masonry and other things out here that I am allowed by the spirit to answer him. Heavenly Father through the holy ghost really does put into your minds what we need to see if we are just willing to say them. I am really grateful for that. We should be teaching him a couple more times this week so we should see how that happens.
I don't remember if I told you about this other family we are teaching. We have a member named Jesse who is awesome. He loves us and wants to do missionary work so bad. So bad that one day at his apartment complex this lady backed into his car and when he came around the corner instead of getting mad, he said "Well If you will come to church with me once and take 6 lessons from the missionaries, I will completely forget about this entire thing and we won't even have to go through the insurance." Once again.. Many ways to find people to teach! So we have met them and she is a football fanatic. Loves it. So for our daily contact with her on Sunday we find out the scores to the Eagles games and get updates on Peyton. Dang Chargers... Anyway back to the point. She didn't want to just take the lessons, she wants her entire family to hear it so we will be teaching them tomorrow night! Exciting!
Everyone else has kinda fallen off the map. We had one investigator named Marie. She is an eternagator, she told us about how someone broke into her house and her bird calendar was missing. We had just shared the story of Enos and the power of prayer. She told us she had never before had a prayer answered. I told her that if she prayed she would walk in the door and find it, and while we prayed I literally knew that the calendar was sitting on her night stand and I could see it. I told her where it was and she walked in to go get it, silently I prayed. She came out a couple of minutes later and said "I can't find it anywhere." I really have no doubt that it was where I said that it was but I believe that Heavenly Father is trying to teach maybe both of us a lesson.
Oh had a couple of follow up incidents with the bb guns. I had to talk to a police sergeant and tell him about the entire thing one day that was kinda cool. He sounded like the guy that tells perry the platypus his missions... Cool Disney channel reference.. But yeah. That is what he sounded like. Also. We found a legit metal bb in Elder Dayton's back pack. It was like a dang bullet. I am so grateful for the power of Obedience to the commandments so that we are protected. I know it probably is like.. Well they were only bb guns but dang. Those things were powerful. I think the possibly dented the car that we hid behind. That was one of those days you will remember for sure!
I got to give a training in zone meeting on how to get referrals. It was kinda cool because the promise in Ether really has come true that "weaknesses become strengths" because I went months without referrals and after I prayerful humbled myself before the Lord and asked for help he has helped it to become my greatest strength. We are actually leading the entire mission in them. I just realize what the Lord really can do with the weak things of the world. So in this training I basically gave what I do and said something to the extent of "Everyone knows someone. It's not a matter of if they have someone it really is a matter of who. You have to get them thinking about missionary opportunities and if they are continually cherishing up those thoughts they will have people come to their minds. When they come up with excuses that they don't know anyone, well.. That is really not true at all." At which point one of the senior couples took mild offense and raised his hand and said "Well Elder can I take offense at one thing you said?" I was like "Sure!" So he recounted it to me and then all the missionaries chimed in. It was interesting for a moment and he had a point, I was right and so was he. So the spirit resolved it all. Grateful for that. It was just interesting, I thought that alot of the ideas that I had come up with were just things everyone did, but they weren't and we saw a giant increase in referrals just in two days in the zone. I am so grateful to be apart of the work and we really do have something to offer.
This morning I was looking at some board games we had in the closet (that's what we resort to for fun on P day) and I saw this random paper and it was the story of "The other wise man" I remember this story from a long time ago. It is about a man named Artobaun that is going to find the savior. He sells at the he has and prepares for the journey with only 3 gems. A Ruby, a Sapphire, and a Pearl. It goes on to tell about how he blesses peoples lives with these items but they were for the Lord. I'm sure he probably felt like failure in the moment but at the end of it all he learned so many more important principles than he would have if he would have just given these to the Savior. He learned how to have compassion, he learned to love, serve, give, cherish, sacrifice, and above all he learned who the Savior really was. I don't know how that story got there. It shouldn't have been. I have looked in that spot a number of times and it was never there before. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sends messages to us when we have tried to seek His will. It really is such a blessing. I hope that I can become not just one of the "Wize guys" like would call our guitar hero band, but I can become the "Other wise man". Looking in the moment, cherishing what I have accumulated and then learning to give it all to the Lord. I love the work, even if it is still 97 degrees and humid, even when I get honked at, yelled at or shot at. It really is such a privileged to serve. Not gonna lie. Most days still are hard. Discouragement is easy, courage is difficult. The best two years is really going by to quickly. I don't realize the lessons I am learning! I love yall. So much.
Elder Paul Funk
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Well it was a better week, with a better attitude. I think that is just the only thing that can really change is that. Alot of times circumstances are just pushed upon us and we just have to deal with it. It is hard and it really is something that is hard to manage but whatever we do there is always going to be opposition!
Really the only way to grow is first to be cut down. Even the Savior could not have gone through the agony on Golgotha if he had not first sufficiently humbled himself in the garden and was further beaten by the guards of the Roman Empire. We were discussing the long mission of Ammon and how many discouraging days he probably had before he had the chance to work for the king himself. Finally once he got that chance he was entrusted with the flocks who knows how long it was before the robbers came and he was able to prove himself a loyal servant. That probably doesn't happen every day that robbers go to your king's flocks. Everything takes time and if you only look in the moment that is where a lot of discouragement and depression comes in. It's interesting because a lot of days we spend talking about an experience that we had or what we would do if we were dads or what not, and it is always joyful, but I'm sure that in the future it will be just as hard as it is here. It always is. In the moment we get cut down, it is so hard but it really is only to make us a better person. Remolded of sorts.
We had a funny thing happen to us.. well me. on Tuesday. It was terrible. So we were getting ready to leave after or dinner appointment and a car drove past us honking like crazy and it was two really attractive girls! So of course we kinda ignore it. (This happens basically daily;) But they kept honking even after they had gone into the apartment complex. So naturally this is the thought I had. " Oh! They must be members! I should go talk to them and see if I can't get some referrals!!" Really and honestly that was my thought. Elder Dayton was still getting ready to go and so I jumped on one pedal and had my helmet hanging from the handle bars and went over on the other side of the fence and said "Hey! Were yall honking at us?" It didn't quite come out in the tone I had wished for... Sorta flirty. But then one of the said back "...Maybe..." With sorta a sly smile. Literally I freaked. I choked worse than Shaq on the free throw line. That was probably the only response I had no idea how to deal with. So what did I do? I said nothing. Waved and then ran like prisoner from alcatraz. I really don't get embarrassed but it was terrible. SO BAD. I flew past Elder Dayton who was still working on his bike and just said "Get out of here!" Really.. I pedaled so fast I looked back and he was gone after like a mile. Single most embarrassing moment of my life. He finally caught up and I told him what happened and he was crying he was laughing so hard. Really. I can't even talk to someone like a normal person anymore haha.
The rest of the week was pretty mundane. We taught one of our investigators about the first three points of the restoration and then Elder Dayton asked a question and somehow he got offended. I was like shoooot. But hey.. Stuff happens sometimes. It's crazy because I could tell how much it hurt him that he had said it and it was just that I was filled with so much love and was completely on his side, just to help him. It is so great the love that the Savior can really fill you with. I love it.
We have another Investigator named Jacob that is doing.. Interestingly. He came to church yesterday and stuff but he got a hold of a ton of anti and is super smart, he wants to get baptized but is concerned about the Aaronic Priesthood being legitimate because the knight's templar had a similar thing and.. I won't even get into it. Somehow I have picked up just enough knowledge about masonry and other things out here that I am allowed by the spirit to answer him. Heavenly Father through the holy ghost really does put into your minds what we need to see if we are just willing to say them. I am really grateful for that. We should be teaching him a couple more times this week so we should see how that happens.
I don't remember if I told you about this other family we are teaching. We have a member named Jesse who is awesome. He loves us and wants to do missionary work so bad. So bad that one day at his apartment complex this lady backed into his car and when he came around the corner instead of getting mad, he said "Well If you will come to church with me once and take 6 lessons from the missionaries, I will completely forget about this entire thing and we won't even have to go through the insurance." Once again.. Many ways to find people to teach! So we have met them and she is a football fanatic. Loves it. So for our daily contact with her on Sunday we find out the scores to the Eagles games and get updates on Peyton. Dang Chargers... Anyway back to the point. She didn't want to just take the lessons, she wants her entire family to hear it so we will be teaching them tomorrow night! Exciting!
Everyone else has kinda fallen off the map. We had one investigator named Marie. She is an eternagator, she told us about how someone broke into her house and her bird calendar was missing. We had just shared the story of Enos and the power of prayer. She told us she had never before had a prayer answered. I told her that if she prayed she would walk in the door and find it, and while we prayed I literally knew that the calendar was sitting on her night stand and I could see it. I told her where it was and she walked in to go get it, silently I prayed. She came out a couple of minutes later and said "I can't find it anywhere." I really have no doubt that it was where I said that it was but I believe that Heavenly Father is trying to teach maybe both of us a lesson.
Oh had a couple of follow up incidents with the bb guns. I had to talk to a police sergeant and tell him about the entire thing one day that was kinda cool. He sounded like the guy that tells perry the platypus his missions... Cool Disney channel reference.. But yeah. That is what he sounded like. Also. We found a legit metal bb in Elder Dayton's back pack. It was like a dang bullet. I am so grateful for the power of Obedience to the commandments so that we are protected. I know it probably is like.. Well they were only bb guns but dang. Those things were powerful. I think the possibly dented the car that we hid behind. That was one of those days you will remember for sure!
I got to give a training in zone meeting on how to get referrals. It was kinda cool because the promise in Ether really has come true that "weaknesses become strengths" because I went months without referrals and after I prayerful humbled myself before the Lord and asked for help he has helped it to become my greatest strength. We are actually leading the entire mission in them. I just realize what the Lord really can do with the weak things of the world. So in this training I basically gave what I do and said something to the extent of "Everyone knows someone. It's not a matter of if they have someone it really is a matter of who. You have to get them thinking about missionary opportunities and if they are continually cherishing up those thoughts they will have people come to their minds. When they come up with excuses that they don't know anyone, well.. That is really not true at all." At which point one of the senior couples took mild offense and raised his hand and said "Well Elder can I take offense at one thing you said?" I was like "Sure!" So he recounted it to me and then all the missionaries chimed in. It was interesting for a moment and he had a point, I was right and so was he. So the spirit resolved it all. Grateful for that. It was just interesting, I thought that alot of the ideas that I had come up with were just things everyone did, but they weren't and we saw a giant increase in referrals just in two days in the zone. I am so grateful to be apart of the work and we really do have something to offer.
This morning I was looking at some board games we had in the closet (that's what we resort to for fun on P day) and I saw this random paper and it was the story of "The other wise man" I remember this story from a long time ago. It is about a man named Artobaun that is going to find the savior. He sells at the he has and prepares for the journey with only 3 gems. A Ruby, a Sapphire, and a Pearl. It goes on to tell about how he blesses peoples lives with these items but they were for the Lord. I'm sure he probably felt like failure in the moment but at the end of it all he learned so many more important principles than he would have if he would have just given these to the Savior. He learned how to have compassion, he learned to love, serve, give, cherish, sacrifice, and above all he learned who the Savior really was. I don't know how that story got there. It shouldn't have been. I have looked in that spot a number of times and it was never there before. I am so grateful that Heavenly Father sends messages to us when we have tried to seek His will. It really is such a blessing. I hope that I can become not just one of the "Wize guys" like would call our guitar hero band, but I can become the "Other wise man". Looking in the moment, cherishing what I have accumulated and then learning to give it all to the Lord. I love the work, even if it is still 97 degrees and humid, even when I get honked at, yelled at or shot at. It really is such a privileged to serve. Not gonna lie. Most days still are hard. Discouragement is easy, courage is difficult. The best two years is really going by to quickly. I don't realize the lessons I am learning! I love yall. So much.
Elder Paul Funk
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Monday, September 9, 2013
Two wet Mormon boys
Hey Family!
What a week. A rollercoaster of adventure and hard times. It was a week that really helped me to grow as a person, a missionary and a disciple of Jesus Christ.
On Monday we got to go to the zoo with some members. I was in a TERRIBLE mood all day. I didn't really take it out on anyone but I was just hurting on the inside because of some stuff I heard in an email. When I was trying to think about the life that I had left behind the people had loved and the person I had wished to become. Plus it was like 100 degrees and dang humid. With no lion to exhibit. Bad combo. So after a long P day we were pretty pumped to go to a dinner appointment BBQ for Labor day with some of my favorite members and there non member friend. We showed up and their friend canceled. I was disappointed because we had been planning this for literally like 2 months. Sucker punch to the face. Annoying mostly. So instead of dealing with it well.. We ate then walked 7 miles back to our home. That took basically forever. But we managed to make it back on time.
Still feeling the effects of the day before Tuesday rolled around as it does every week. Tuesday's are by far the worst. Nothing to look forward too, unless you have a whole ton of lessons planned. Well we went out to teach the gospel and every single one of them fell right on through. Yep. Dropped like we were hot or something. That was just the beginning of 13 consecutive set appointments that fell through in a row this week. It was just so hard. I want to teach so bad but to see the hardness of their hearts, everything was just so difficult. I became really angry... I just was so down in the dumps... I wanted to quit so bad.. I concocted a whole plan to leave, I had the bag ready, everything good to go. I even had made like 2 back up plans... I know that if I had decided to leave that I could have made it work wherever I had decided to go and I guess that is what scared me most. I gave myself one more week though after thinking about it because I was coming down with a cough..
Wednesday was basically like one of those movie moments where the guy gets smacked slow motion in the face with a soccer ball. Crazy. I got terribly sick and just laid on the couch. I had a complete mental, spiritual and physical breakdown. I just laid there thinking about how bad I wanted to leave. I just wanted to go home, or go to a place where no one would know me, I couldn't get hurt anymore and nothing really mattered. After a few hours I finally decided, although angry at good I would pray.. I told God very angrily that if he wanted me to stay out here that I was going to need to know why. As I got up from my prayer I decided to start reading the Gospel of Matthew. I studied for hours. I read the first few chapters very slowly, methodically looking for something, anything that mattered. Finally I reached the 10th Chapter. This is where the apostles are called and the Savior is giving them very specific instructions on how they are to go about ministering and teaching the people. He also tells them what is going to happen to them. I read on and Heavenly Father spoke to my heart.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
I knew then that Heavenly Father knew me. I had gotten my answer that I was to worried about things that I had. Things that I wanted and that I was hoping dreaming for. Even the very most righteous things. But I knew then as I do now that He really wants me to not be the man that I was. I have to be better. I don't think that he would put me through things that are to hard for me to handle and seemingly they may be easy to so many people. I have really so much. But I need to give more, more of myself a willingness to learn and become teachable. Humility. As I prayed and asked forgiveness I can only imagine him laughing with me. Looking and my dramatics, but it mattered to me and it matters to him. He loves us all so much so individually. He wants me home, and I am on that Journey. I finally slept nice that night and it was probably the only good night's sleep that I got that week.
The next day we went to transfer meeting and I said bye to one of my best friends Sister Staker. She was hilarious! It was awesome to get to serve around her for a month or so, but her replacement is Canadian so I guess that will be pretty cool too. haha. So we went back and I decided to give the Lord my full blown effort. I planned like I had never planned before. Made notes and just strained my brain. He was guiding me though. We planned for like 5 hours straight. Elder Dayton checked out at about 3 and a half. I guess we could have taken a break, but I didn't really look at the time. Pretty soon I realized that the dinner time was past and he wanted to take it then but I told him that we don't ever do that, luckily he has patience with me. So we walked about a mile and a half down the street and then the heavens opened. We just got destroyed there was a terrible rain storm and lightening just crazy. It was like armaggedon but in the heavens. Lighting was hitting like less than a mile away. It was so loud. I just laughed but finally a man pulled over and yelled at us to get in. I of course said no, we didn't want to get his car wet, but he insisted and so we jumped in the trunk and he drove us back home. I guess we could have gotten kidnapped but no body wants a couple of wet Mormon boys. I bet we don't bring alot of the black market... haha. Anyway nobody else in the district got rain so we took that as a sign to take dinner... I once again learned that it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. Glad Heavenly Father has patience.
Friday was once again a continuation of dropped appointments. We learned very quickly that ya just keep your chin up and go with it. Persevere! So we walked around all day. Talked to alot of people at a simple dinner of mashed potatoes and went back out and then went home. Long day in the life of a Funk. But we kept on keepin on.
Saturday was alright well.. No it wasn't. We finally taught a lesson! But the entire lesson was talking about satanic Walt Disney movies. Who knew right? Yeah.. I still don't. We biked 40 miles. Hit every edge of area, went out and moved someone in another persons area but luckily no flats. Then we biked down to the dinner and it was great! It was good food so that was really nice. BUT.... we walked down the street trying to go to another appointment. All the sudden we heard firecrackers going off behind us. Wait. Those were bb and pellet guns. yep. We got powned... They just shot us up. I got shot in the back of the head and that hurt then in that back a couple of times. Elder Dayton jumped behind a car and hid after getting shot in the arm. It was just like really? So we called the cops and they came up to us and asked us if we needed an ambulance. We were like.. no? It just kinda hurt and my head is throbbing. He then told us that another kid had the same thing happen to him and that it had sent him to the hospital. I know the Lord was protecting us even though my head still hurts a little.
Church was good. We didn't really have any investigators or anything. But It was good I guess. Haha we have been nicknamed the Eat discouragement for lunch East Zone.. Wonder why. Life is good, can't complain to much. I am grateful that blessings will come. Although maybe not immediately. I love the promise that is made in
29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Opening portals to life time blessings is what I am doing. It is really just but a small moment. Plus weeks go by quick and now we have a new one! Can't wait to see what this brings. Just experienced one of these deep lows that sometimes come along. But every storm brings about a great sunshine. I know that it will all be great. I love the Lord. I know that I can do anything:)
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk
What a week. A rollercoaster of adventure and hard times. It was a week that really helped me to grow as a person, a missionary and a disciple of Jesus Christ.
On Monday we got to go to the zoo with some members. I was in a TERRIBLE mood all day. I didn't really take it out on anyone but I was just hurting on the inside because of some stuff I heard in an email. When I was trying to think about the life that I had left behind the people had loved and the person I had wished to become. Plus it was like 100 degrees and dang humid. With no lion to exhibit. Bad combo. So after a long P day we were pretty pumped to go to a dinner appointment BBQ for Labor day with some of my favorite members and there non member friend. We showed up and their friend canceled. I was disappointed because we had been planning this for literally like 2 months. Sucker punch to the face. Annoying mostly. So instead of dealing with it well.. We ate then walked 7 miles back to our home. That took basically forever. But we managed to make it back on time.
Still feeling the effects of the day before Tuesday rolled around as it does every week. Tuesday's are by far the worst. Nothing to look forward too, unless you have a whole ton of lessons planned. Well we went out to teach the gospel and every single one of them fell right on through. Yep. Dropped like we were hot or something. That was just the beginning of 13 consecutive set appointments that fell through in a row this week. It was just so hard. I want to teach so bad but to see the hardness of their hearts, everything was just so difficult. I became really angry... I just was so down in the dumps... I wanted to quit so bad.. I concocted a whole plan to leave, I had the bag ready, everything good to go. I even had made like 2 back up plans... I know that if I had decided to leave that I could have made it work wherever I had decided to go and I guess that is what scared me most. I gave myself one more week though after thinking about it because I was coming down with a cough..
Wednesday was basically like one of those movie moments where the guy gets smacked slow motion in the face with a soccer ball. Crazy. I got terribly sick and just laid on the couch. I had a complete mental, spiritual and physical breakdown. I just laid there thinking about how bad I wanted to leave. I just wanted to go home, or go to a place where no one would know me, I couldn't get hurt anymore and nothing really mattered. After a few hours I finally decided, although angry at good I would pray.. I told God very angrily that if he wanted me to stay out here that I was going to need to know why. As I got up from my prayer I decided to start reading the Gospel of Matthew. I studied for hours. I read the first few chapters very slowly, methodically looking for something, anything that mattered. Finally I reached the 10th Chapter. This is where the apostles are called and the Savior is giving them very specific instructions on how they are to go about ministering and teaching the people. He also tells them what is going to happen to them. I read on and Heavenly Father spoke to my heart.
38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.
39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
I knew then that Heavenly Father knew me. I had gotten my answer that I was to worried about things that I had. Things that I wanted and that I was hoping dreaming for. Even the very most righteous things. But I knew then as I do now that He really wants me to not be the man that I was. I have to be better. I don't think that he would put me through things that are to hard for me to handle and seemingly they may be easy to so many people. I have really so much. But I need to give more, more of myself a willingness to learn and become teachable. Humility. As I prayed and asked forgiveness I can only imagine him laughing with me. Looking and my dramatics, but it mattered to me and it matters to him. He loves us all so much so individually. He wants me home, and I am on that Journey. I finally slept nice that night and it was probably the only good night's sleep that I got that week.
The next day we went to transfer meeting and I said bye to one of my best friends Sister Staker. She was hilarious! It was awesome to get to serve around her for a month or so, but her replacement is Canadian so I guess that will be pretty cool too. haha. So we went back and I decided to give the Lord my full blown effort. I planned like I had never planned before. Made notes and just strained my brain. He was guiding me though. We planned for like 5 hours straight. Elder Dayton checked out at about 3 and a half. I guess we could have taken a break, but I didn't really look at the time. Pretty soon I realized that the dinner time was past and he wanted to take it then but I told him that we don't ever do that, luckily he has patience with me. So we walked about a mile and a half down the street and then the heavens opened. We just got destroyed there was a terrible rain storm and lightening just crazy. It was like armaggedon but in the heavens. Lighting was hitting like less than a mile away. It was so loud. I just laughed but finally a man pulled over and yelled at us to get in. I of course said no, we didn't want to get his car wet, but he insisted and so we jumped in the trunk and he drove us back home. I guess we could have gotten kidnapped but no body wants a couple of wet Mormon boys. I bet we don't bring alot of the black market... haha. Anyway nobody else in the district got rain so we took that as a sign to take dinner... I once again learned that it is not requisite that a man should run faster than he has strength. Glad Heavenly Father has patience.
Friday was once again a continuation of dropped appointments. We learned very quickly that ya just keep your chin up and go with it. Persevere! So we walked around all day. Talked to alot of people at a simple dinner of mashed potatoes and went back out and then went home. Long day in the life of a Funk. But we kept on keepin on.
Saturday was alright well.. No it wasn't. We finally taught a lesson! But the entire lesson was talking about satanic Walt Disney movies. Who knew right? Yeah.. I still don't. We biked 40 miles. Hit every edge of area, went out and moved someone in another persons area but luckily no flats. Then we biked down to the dinner and it was great! It was good food so that was really nice. BUT.... we walked down the street trying to go to another appointment. All the sudden we heard firecrackers going off behind us. Wait. Those were bb and pellet guns. yep. We got powned... They just shot us up. I got shot in the back of the head and that hurt then in that back a couple of times. Elder Dayton jumped behind a car and hid after getting shot in the arm. It was just like really? So we called the cops and they came up to us and asked us if we needed an ambulance. We were like.. no? It just kinda hurt and my head is throbbing. He then told us that another kid had the same thing happen to him and that it had sent him to the hospital. I know the Lord was protecting us even though my head still hurts a little.
Church was good. We didn't really have any investigators or anything. But It was good I guess. Haha we have been nicknamed the Eat discouragement for lunch East Zone.. Wonder why. Life is good, can't complain to much. I am grateful that blessings will come. Although maybe not immediately. I love the promise that is made in
29 And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name’s sake, shall receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life.
Opening portals to life time blessings is what I am doing. It is really just but a small moment. Plus weeks go by quick and now we have a new one! Can't wait to see what this brings. Just experienced one of these deep lows that sometimes come along. But every storm brings about a great sunshine. I know that it will all be great. I love the Lord. I know that I can do anything:)
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk
Tuesday, September 3, 2013
Yep....
Hey Family!
Well it has been quite a week. I almost feel like nothing really happened. I just don't even know anymore. I went to the grocery store this morning and basically it just ticked me off. Nothing is worse then standing in line behind people buying hundreds of dollars of groceries so that I can buy frozen pizzas and pop tarts. Yep.
Nothing is really happening. We did get to have a great child of record baptism this week. It was great because we got 14 non members there. A new record. Yep it was awesome. We got to go have dinner there after and it was just really uplifting.
So anyway! Monday we didn't really do anything crazy. I think that we went and played basketball. Oh yeah! We went fishing. I caught a fish, then it swam under a rock and broke the line. It made me soo mad. Haha. Then we were with the sisters and Sister Staker decided to scream once one of the fishies bit her line. Yep. and Thus ended the 38th P-day of the mission of Paul.
We had a giant training meeting with President, he basically did away with everything that I seemed to know how to do. Haha. He told us more effective ways to find, I mean I had been doing it before but it was weird. So we are now more focusing on getting referrals and working that way. So we will have to see how everything adjusts now. Just alot of change. We went to dinner that night and there was a family that grew up in Logan so we talked alot about home and everything. It was funny because we could talk about events and we both knew exactly where we were talking. I even mentioned our man-cave. Yep. He even knew where that was. Saweet.
Wednesday we started to work with this RM that served in the Philippines It was great! He worked with us solidly for like 2 weeks. Great stuff. He just got married and lived in Oregon so he was basically sick of spending all the time in the world with his wife, so he decided it was better to work with us. Great. Even better, sometimes we get in the car and he makes us listen to apostate music. I am totally going to do that to the missionaries when I get home. Besides the point. We went to this guys house and knocked on the door, he let us right in and we taught him the Restoration. He accepted it all, we set him with a date and left. He wants the gospel but when we went back he was working so we will have to see what is going on there..
We also taught that family that we found last week. They had a date but they fell through again. Yep.
Nothing else really happened this week. Haha just plugging along trying to get something to work.
I don't really know what else is going on. Umm... Haha it really was a pretty enjoyable week. Just nothing happened. I am like livid right now. So sorry that this email sucks. Just one of those mornings haha.
I have discovered that the work goes better when you just plug along and keep trying. Just gotta keep plugging along and one day something goes better. haha. Elder Dayton we were walking along the lawns and there was this one flower in the lawn that had been mowed around and trimmed to make real nice. So I don't know what he was thinking but he walked up and picked it. Destroying all this people's work. It was hilarious because he didn't even realize what he was doing. So funny. Then Karma got him and another dog came booking it out of a house down the street and chased him. Again. He's gotta learn. Maybe one day.
Oh! we got Transfer info. We are both staying another go around. So that will be fun. I am excited. Another 6 weeks here in UC!
Well have a great week. Sorry it's a bad email.. I will be more spiritual in the future. BUT. I found out we can wear cowboy boots if they match our slacks... Gray and black look great together to me! So that was a bright spot. haha. Well God Bless Y'all.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk.
Well it has been quite a week. I almost feel like nothing really happened. I just don't even know anymore. I went to the grocery store this morning and basically it just ticked me off. Nothing is worse then standing in line behind people buying hundreds of dollars of groceries so that I can buy frozen pizzas and pop tarts. Yep.
Nothing is really happening. We did get to have a great child of record baptism this week. It was great because we got 14 non members there. A new record. Yep it was awesome. We got to go have dinner there after and it was just really uplifting.
So anyway! Monday we didn't really do anything crazy. I think that we went and played basketball. Oh yeah! We went fishing. I caught a fish, then it swam under a rock and broke the line. It made me soo mad. Haha. Then we were with the sisters and Sister Staker decided to scream once one of the fishies bit her line. Yep. and Thus ended the 38th P-day of the mission of Paul.
We had a giant training meeting with President, he basically did away with everything that I seemed to know how to do. Haha. He told us more effective ways to find, I mean I had been doing it before but it was weird. So we are now more focusing on getting referrals and working that way. So we will have to see how everything adjusts now. Just alot of change. We went to dinner that night and there was a family that grew up in Logan so we talked alot about home and everything. It was funny because we could talk about events and we both knew exactly where we were talking. I even mentioned our man-cave. Yep. He even knew where that was. Saweet.
Wednesday we started to work with this RM that served in the Philippines It was great! He worked with us solidly for like 2 weeks. Great stuff. He just got married and lived in Oregon so he was basically sick of spending all the time in the world with his wife, so he decided it was better to work with us. Great. Even better, sometimes we get in the car and he makes us listen to apostate music. I am totally going to do that to the missionaries when I get home. Besides the point. We went to this guys house and knocked on the door, he let us right in and we taught him the Restoration. He accepted it all, we set him with a date and left. He wants the gospel but when we went back he was working so we will have to see what is going on there..
We also taught that family that we found last week. They had a date but they fell through again. Yep.
Nothing else really happened this week. Haha just plugging along trying to get something to work.
I don't really know what else is going on. Umm... Haha it really was a pretty enjoyable week. Just nothing happened. I am like livid right now. So sorry that this email sucks. Just one of those mornings haha.
I have discovered that the work goes better when you just plug along and keep trying. Just gotta keep plugging along and one day something goes better. haha. Elder Dayton we were walking along the lawns and there was this one flower in the lawn that had been mowed around and trimmed to make real nice. So I don't know what he was thinking but he walked up and picked it. Destroying all this people's work. It was hilarious because he didn't even realize what he was doing. So funny. Then Karma got him and another dog came booking it out of a house down the street and chased him. Again. He's gotta learn. Maybe one day.
Oh! we got Transfer info. We are both staying another go around. So that will be fun. I am excited. Another 6 weeks here in UC!
Well have a great week. Sorry it's a bad email.. I will be more spiritual in the future. BUT. I found out we can wear cowboy boots if they match our slacks... Gray and black look great together to me! So that was a bright spot. haha. Well God Bless Y'all.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk.
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