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
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
Scatterball and Hedge Trimming
Well this week has been pretty great! Last week for P day we went to the stake center and played basketball and "scatterball" I had no idea what that was, so I had them explain it to me. It's basically glorified dodgeball. I was like.. Ok. Well I'll try it. I basically destroyed everyone. It was funny. I don't think I got out the entire time. It was awesome. Elder Dayton and I also played some pretty sweet basketball. I think that is probably what we will end up doing today too.
Tuesday was good. We went over to a member's house and had a service project. He had it detailed to every minute of what we were going to do. Even to where we were going to put the tools to move them. He was so excited to have the missionaries come over to his home. It was amazing to see. He showed us his family history work that he does. He does it for 8 hours a day at least. He has done over 1/2 million names over the last couple years. I couldn't believe it. He just really has a calling in this life. It was so neat to see his dedication to the work and how much he really loves the Savior. He was so appreciative. I even got to use a Hedge trimmer for the first time. Man did those hedges look good to. I think I should possibly go into that for a career! I could maybe do Texas shaped things it would be awesome!
Wednesday was good. I forgot I had do give a training so I kinda put one together last second. It was a story of a man named Paul Ity. He was awesome. Had everything that he would ever need. Even his family was well off. He was super popular in High school and really just a fantastic guy overall. But there was always a void in his life. Something that he couldn't fill no matter what he did. So he went to his usual thinking place, the Chinese Restaurant down the street. Very Seinfeld-esque he would eat his food rant about his problems, then get on with life. Today however he opened his cookie and it said:
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man.
He recorded it into his Journal and though alot about it. (1Cor. 11:11.) He found it to be so true. So he decided that we would follow after this thought. He picked his girl her name was Char (french so it's pronounced Shar). She was beautiful. Paul was very perticular when it came to his grooming habits. You can read all about it in his Journal (1 Cor. 11) Long story short though, he really fell in love with Char. So much so that he would do the teenage girl thing and write her name on everything, but he imagined her that she was already his. Char Ity he thought. How special she would be.
He even went so far as to write down exactly what he thought of her. In his own twitterpatted way he says:
Char Ity suffereth long, and is kind; Char Ity denvieth not; Char Ity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in ainiquity, but rejoiceth in the btruth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Char Ity never afaileth.
He really loved her. As you can probably guess. Who wouldn't? So he cunningly devised a plan to get her. What does every girl want? Chocolates and flowers. That's the key to her heart. Or so he thought. I won't even begin to insult him with the ideas that he probably must have tried, it sufficeth me to say it in his own words:
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
He realized that probably wasn't going to work.. After much heart ache and suffering he finally must have had an epiphany sometime during the night because he writes in his next Journal entry:
Follow after Char Ity, and desire spiritual bgifts,
His buddy Moroni had alot of similar problems and gave him a whole list right before he passed away. In Moroni 10. I would invite you to read that chapter, identify a spiritual gift, and then seek to use it for Char Ity.
Basically it was a pretty boss training. You should have seen the Zl's face.. I don't know if they enjoyed it as much as I did but heck it was fun. I tried to teach it to a 15 year old sunday school class yesterday and it bombed... So there was my humble pie. haha.
We also had exchanges this week. It was so sweet. Elder Ballard came here, he has been out about 2 and a half months, so we went to work! It was great. We biked to every edge of our area. Proabably about 30 miles that day. It was brutal... But we taught three lessons!
One of the greatest things that happened that day was when we were knocking on some doors there were these four 16 year old love birds, chasing each other around in the sprinklers in front of probably one of their parents houses. It started to get a little crazier as we went down the street. They were chasing each other through the house now. Heathens.. So anyway God loves us, I know he does, because we were at the house across the street and no one was home so we were waiting and the girl comes flying around the corner, leaps in the front door and shuts it right behind her. Somehow getting it shut and locked super quick. Her Bf comes flying right behind her like a cheetah behind a gazelle and BAM! Face first into the door! (It was so lound that Elder Ballard jumped.) He immediatly backs away grabs his face, stunned and falls into the fetal position. His girlfriend opens the door to see her now bawling 16 year old Bf. It brings to mind that scripture "Wickedness never was happiness" but I guess it depends on for who.. It made me incredibly happy. I laughed Hysterically all the way down the street. (NOW... before you judge me. The kid was ok. He wasn't seriously hurt, we made sure to watch him long enough that we was laughing about it after, while holding a punch of paper towels to his nose. He thought it was good too.)
We biked down to the next spot and had a nice little adventure. There was a dog wandering around in the rich people hood and so just as Preach My Gospel says There are many ways to find. I decided to catch the dog. So... After acquiring the dog. I was checking out the tag and a car drives up, a lady walks out, and snatches the dog and takes it back, says Thanks and gets in the car. So much for that idea.. Nevertheless.. We went on. So we knock like three more doors. Are having a nice conversation with this man and his phone goes off. He says, "well it's hot out there, just come in for a sec." So we get in the door. While we are waiting the front door opens again and the dog shows up! Right behind it the lady! Immediately I start laughing and so does she. It was funny. Finally the man gets off the phone and Elder Ballard says "Well when would be another time that we could come back and share a message?" In my head every signal goes off.. Mayday, mayday! I didn't even know how to soften that blow, so I just said "What he meant there was, we would love to sit down and share a message with you." So... We did! They loved the Book of Mormon and are going to read it! We have an appointment this week. The family loved me. I am taking the sons on a bike ride this week and the 2 year old daughter came up and gave me a hug and then stood looking up at me with her lips pursed looking for a kiss. I had to turn that one down unfortunately. ;)
Saturday we had a Philippians meets Texas night. We invited a PM family over to a families house for dinner who is the same way. The ladies are both 40ish year old and from the Philippians and the husbands are 60's and white as snow. Perfect. So the member went all out and cooked tons of tradtional food for us. It was Awesome. If that's what Jared [Elder Jared Walker is one of Paul's best friends and is currently serving his mission in the Phillipinnes] gets, he is going to have to start applying for the biggest loser now! What else was even better is for some reason they decided there also had to be a brisket and baked beans. I don't know why.. But I don't ask questions... It was so great. The ladies talked Tagalog the whole time, and then spent a half hour telling us about how good the Elders have it over there, with maids and they are super rich.. They also tried to convince us to go over there and pick up a wife. They told us that girls love the foreign guys. It was so great. The came to church the next day and the member who has the non-member husband came up to us and said " I will give you a call. I want my husband baptized, now!" I couldn't help but do the Tiger Woods fist pump in the middle of the chapel.
Overall it was a great week. Incredible hot and even harder, but I had fun. This morning I was studying in the the Book of John (2) and discovered something that I had never heard before. When Jesus Clears the temples from all of the desecrators of his Father's house, he leaves with them all a message. After the group of Jews gather around him, the begin to ask how they can know. Asking for a sign. The must have surely wondered, as he claimed that this was "His Father's house" It was the house the Almighty God. Asking for sign he says to them:
19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this atemple, and in three days I will braise it up.
They however did not understand it by saying:
20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this atemple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
Christ however was not talking about the temple but much rather his body. Early on asserting the fact that he knew his divine purpose. The thing that hit me this morning was that this was the very same charge that is referenced in both the Matthew and Mark accounts of his "Trial" if it could be called that.. Amongst the Jews that had witnessed the Love that he had for their sacred temple there were two of them that betrayed him saying they had heard him say this. Christ did not deny that he had said this, for in fact he had. It was a statement so hard to comprehend that not even the disciples knew what it meant until after the resurrection. Truly through the ordeal that he went through, the very Atonement itself he did not only have none with Him, but so very many of His people were against him.
I know for a fact that Jesus is the Christ. I love inviting people everywhere to come and to know him. Through the restored gospel. I know he doesn't want me anywhere else. I truly do Love this work, this people. Keep having a great week. Or start now. Know that those that are against you are far outweighed by those that are for you.
Remember who you are and what He stands for.
Elder Paul Funk
Tuesday was good. We went over to a member's house and had a service project. He had it detailed to every minute of what we were going to do. Even to where we were going to put the tools to move them. He was so excited to have the missionaries come over to his home. It was amazing to see. He showed us his family history work that he does. He does it for 8 hours a day at least. He has done over 1/2 million names over the last couple years. I couldn't believe it. He just really has a calling in this life. It was so neat to see his dedication to the work and how much he really loves the Savior. He was so appreciative. I even got to use a Hedge trimmer for the first time. Man did those hedges look good to. I think I should possibly go into that for a career! I could maybe do Texas shaped things it would be awesome!
Wednesday was good. I forgot I had do give a training so I kinda put one together last second. It was a story of a man named Paul Ity. He was awesome. Had everything that he would ever need. Even his family was well off. He was super popular in High school and really just a fantastic guy overall. But there was always a void in his life. Something that he couldn't fill no matter what he did. So he went to his usual thinking place, the Chinese Restaurant down the street. Very Seinfeld-esque he would eat his food rant about his problems, then get on with life. Today however he opened his cookie and it said:
Nevertheless neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man.
He recorded it into his Journal and though alot about it. (1Cor. 11:11.) He found it to be so true. So he decided that we would follow after this thought. He picked his girl her name was Char (french so it's pronounced Shar). She was beautiful. Paul was very perticular when it came to his grooming habits. You can read all about it in his Journal (1 Cor. 11) Long story short though, he really fell in love with Char. So much so that he would do the teenage girl thing and write her name on everything, but he imagined her that she was already his. Char Ity he thought. How special she would be.
He even went so far as to write down exactly what he thought of her. In his own twitterpatted way he says:
Char Ity suffereth long, and is kind; Char Ity denvieth not; Char Ity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in ainiquity, but rejoiceth in the btruth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Char Ity never afaileth.
He really loved her. As you can probably guess. Who wouldn't? So he cunningly devised a plan to get her. What does every girl want? Chocolates and flowers. That's the key to her heart. Or so he thought. I won't even begin to insult him with the ideas that he probably must have tried, it sufficeth me to say it in his own words:
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
He realized that probably wasn't going to work.. After much heart ache and suffering he finally must have had an epiphany sometime during the night because he writes in his next Journal entry:
Follow after Char Ity, and desire spiritual bgifts,
His buddy Moroni had alot of similar problems and gave him a whole list right before he passed away. In Moroni 10. I would invite you to read that chapter, identify a spiritual gift, and then seek to use it for Char Ity.
Basically it was a pretty boss training. You should have seen the Zl's face.. I don't know if they enjoyed it as much as I did but heck it was fun. I tried to teach it to a 15 year old sunday school class yesterday and it bombed... So there was my humble pie. haha.
We also had exchanges this week. It was so sweet. Elder Ballard came here, he has been out about 2 and a half months, so we went to work! It was great. We biked to every edge of our area. Proabably about 30 miles that day. It was brutal... But we taught three lessons!
One of the greatest things that happened that day was when we were knocking on some doors there were these four 16 year old love birds, chasing each other around in the sprinklers in front of probably one of their parents houses. It started to get a little crazier as we went down the street. They were chasing each other through the house now. Heathens.. So anyway God loves us, I know he does, because we were at the house across the street and no one was home so we were waiting and the girl comes flying around the corner, leaps in the front door and shuts it right behind her. Somehow getting it shut and locked super quick. Her Bf comes flying right behind her like a cheetah behind a gazelle and BAM! Face first into the door! (It was so lound that Elder Ballard jumped.) He immediatly backs away grabs his face, stunned and falls into the fetal position. His girlfriend opens the door to see her now bawling 16 year old Bf. It brings to mind that scripture "Wickedness never was happiness" but I guess it depends on for who.. It made me incredibly happy. I laughed Hysterically all the way down the street. (NOW... before you judge me. The kid was ok. He wasn't seriously hurt, we made sure to watch him long enough that we was laughing about it after, while holding a punch of paper towels to his nose. He thought it was good too.)
We biked down to the next spot and had a nice little adventure. There was a dog wandering around in the rich people hood and so just as Preach My Gospel says There are many ways to find. I decided to catch the dog. So... After acquiring the dog. I was checking out the tag and a car drives up, a lady walks out, and snatches the dog and takes it back, says Thanks and gets in the car. So much for that idea.. Nevertheless.. We went on. So we knock like three more doors. Are having a nice conversation with this man and his phone goes off. He says, "well it's hot out there, just come in for a sec." So we get in the door. While we are waiting the front door opens again and the dog shows up! Right behind it the lady! Immediately I start laughing and so does she. It was funny. Finally the man gets off the phone and Elder Ballard says "Well when would be another time that we could come back and share a message?" In my head every signal goes off.. Mayday, mayday! I didn't even know how to soften that blow, so I just said "What he meant there was, we would love to sit down and share a message with you." So... We did! They loved the Book of Mormon and are going to read it! We have an appointment this week. The family loved me. I am taking the sons on a bike ride this week and the 2 year old daughter came up and gave me a hug and then stood looking up at me with her lips pursed looking for a kiss. I had to turn that one down unfortunately. ;)
Saturday we had a Philippians meets Texas night. We invited a PM family over to a families house for dinner who is the same way. The ladies are both 40ish year old and from the Philippians and the husbands are 60's and white as snow. Perfect. So the member went all out and cooked tons of tradtional food for us. It was Awesome. If that's what Jared [Elder Jared Walker is one of Paul's best friends and is currently serving his mission in the Phillipinnes] gets, he is going to have to start applying for the biggest loser now! What else was even better is for some reason they decided there also had to be a brisket and baked beans. I don't know why.. But I don't ask questions... It was so great. The ladies talked Tagalog the whole time, and then spent a half hour telling us about how good the Elders have it over there, with maids and they are super rich.. They also tried to convince us to go over there and pick up a wife. They told us that girls love the foreign guys. It was so great. The came to church the next day and the member who has the non-member husband came up to us and said " I will give you a call. I want my husband baptized, now!" I couldn't help but do the Tiger Woods fist pump in the middle of the chapel.
Overall it was a great week. Incredible hot and even harder, but I had fun. This morning I was studying in the the Book of John (2) and discovered something that I had never heard before. When Jesus Clears the temples from all of the desecrators of his Father's house, he leaves with them all a message. After the group of Jews gather around him, the begin to ask how they can know. Asking for a sign. The must have surely wondered, as he claimed that this was "His Father's house" It was the house the Almighty God. Asking for sign he says to them:
19 Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this atemple, and in three days I will braise it up.
They however did not understand it by saying:
20 Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this atemple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days?
Christ however was not talking about the temple but much rather his body. Early on asserting the fact that he knew his divine purpose. The thing that hit me this morning was that this was the very same charge that is referenced in both the Matthew and Mark accounts of his "Trial" if it could be called that.. Amongst the Jews that had witnessed the Love that he had for their sacred temple there were two of them that betrayed him saying they had heard him say this. Christ did not deny that he had said this, for in fact he had. It was a statement so hard to comprehend that not even the disciples knew what it meant until after the resurrection. Truly through the ordeal that he went through, the very Atonement itself he did not only have none with Him, but so very many of His people were against him.
I know for a fact that Jesus is the Christ. I love inviting people everywhere to come and to know him. Through the restored gospel. I know he doesn't want me anywhere else. I truly do Love this work, this people. Keep having a great week. Or start now. Know that those that are against you are far outweighed by those that are for you.
Remember who you are and what He stands for.
Elder Paul Funk
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
Shopping at the Flea Market
Hey Family!
Well another week has already come and gone. It started off well. We were able to go to the mexican flee market and I got a couple of ponchos for like 12 bucks each. So sweet. I wear them basically anywhere that I can. So that is pretty cool. I also bought a ring that says TSAM and has the texas long horns on it. Next week I may try and send home my SD card so that yall can see.
I learned an important lesson this week. Keep ahold of your map. When we were out tracting in the farthest part of our area last week I dropped our map. It was gone. I'm pretty sure that is was in cahootz with the 116 pages because it just vanished. So yeah.. We made the long trip home and that was that. We checked a whole bunch of gas stations and no one had a map. So i was just like.. For real? Whatever and just let it go sorta. So I decided that I would just pack around the big map we have that is like the official church one that is all fancy and has been hanging on the wall longer than adam was in the garden. Well.. That lasted all of about 2 hours before somehow, someway I managed to lose that one too... Whatever. So now not only did we not have a map to tract we had no map to plan. So we just kinda went with the flow. And of course there is no way that I am going to call the office couples haha I can't tell them I lost the map..
So the next morning we woke up, still no map, and no one knew where we could get one, so I texted the WML Brother Davis and he was able to print off about 10 sections of our area on google maps. It was cool except we had to overlap and piece together this monstrosity that took like a whole hour of our time. Then we realized that we were still missing like a third of it. So I was like whatever. I think Elder Dayton is just like what the heck... But it was just nuts. So we went down to action bikes, because I had to get my bike lock cut off of my bicycle because once again... I had lost my keys. So after drilling that off we went to work. We biked up to schertz and just took street after street til I finally saw a stop sign that we could park our bikes on. We locked up and knocked. One door, and a young man let us in. He told us that he needed us to help him out because he was struggling with prayer. It was a sweet lesson. I told him how one time I had prayed for a sign. For it to rain and it didn't and how I felt after that. He told me that he had done the exact same thing and that it had been the same result. Nothing. We were able to connect on such a personal level. We are going to start teaching him this week and I can't wait. But it was such a great lesson to me that 1. Everything happens for a reason. and 2. Just endure.
We also taught a couple of Hindu people! They live in our apartment complex and are like some of our best friends. They are sweet. They invited us over to hang out but we taught them a lesson. They had like a million questions about America and just the culture in general. I actually explained dating to them and just like off the wall stuff. They are a culture that is SO based on respect. We gave them Books of Mormons, but they told us they couldn't read them. We were both like.. Well.. Yes you can.. But then he showed us his Temple. In the bottom of his closet there lay his holy book along with the two pass-a-long cards that we had left in their doors the other times we had tried to visit. He told us that anything with his gods, someone elses God's was something so sacred and that if it was ever given to them He placed it in his temple. What else was neat is that before they can read it they must bathe. They have so much respect for there books and there religion that they want to be completely clean before they even lay hands on it. What a concept. It was so beautiful.
Yesterday was another great experience. After Church got over we were just walking the streets and I was ranting about school and we were talking about how GPA's don't really matter and blah, blah... But I wasn't really paying attention then all the sudden I like woke up of a sort and we were at an apartment complex. Something that we had no plan to do. So we went over to one building and started to knock. We knocked on a few doors and then finally we ran into a 19 yr old named Ian. We started talking to him on the door and the spirit hit me strong and basically said "Just shut up, and get in the door." I told him that we needed to come in, so we sat down and I started talking to him and told Him that I had a friend pass away in March. He told me that he had a friend die 2 days before and that he was having a hard time. Of course I was able at that point to tell Jake's story. I told him how hard it was to see him in the hospital and I don't even like going to hospitals to this day, I told him what a great athlete Jake is. He just was so great at being himself. We talked about our fears, we talked about the pre-mortal life and the existence after this, but most of all I was able to testify of the resurrection. I really don't know why, Jake has been such a big part of my mission. He must have known how much I needed him to help me get through it. It's crazy because even at home we didn't hang out all the time or anything, but we were friends, but out here we have such a deeper spiritual connection. He is here. He helps me. He laughs at me. (That one probably more than anything else.) But I am so blessed to have been able to know him. When I told Ian his story we both just went somber and he knew how much he needed that. I knew how much I needed that and we both knew that God had sent us there. I don't think Ian is going to get baptized, or become a Mormon next week, but I know that God loves all his children and so do I. I get to help others come unto Christ. Sometimes it's as simple as saying "I love you".
The single most important principle in the Plan, and I would dare-say the gospel, is that of the resurrection. Without that we have no hope, no belief, and no reason to be here. When life gets hard we can look at the atonement, know that He felt what I felt, what I am feeling and cares so much about me. We can look at the end result. He made it through. He had to endure a life time of questioning, persecution, and hard ships so that we could have the hope of eternal life. I finished Jesus the Christ, this last week and have come to realize how much more important the Savior is in my life than anything else. The insights into his life. The way that he masterfully answered the questions of not only the Scribes and Pharisees, but even down until the apostles was something that I can only hope to one day obtain. He does live. I really do know that. I was pondering on Peter this morning. I think Peter was for sure Jesus' favorite, and I always picture him as just a loyal goof-ball. Although he made some mistakes, he loved Christ. I can't wait to watch the video of Christ along the shore and Peter swimming out to get to land first. He love was something unimaginable. I wish to obtain that. To be a loyal, faithful, maybe a bit of a goof ball. But a special witness of Jesus the Christ.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Well another week has already come and gone. It started off well. We were able to go to the mexican flee market and I got a couple of ponchos for like 12 bucks each. So sweet. I wear them basically anywhere that I can. So that is pretty cool. I also bought a ring that says TSAM and has the texas long horns on it. Next week I may try and send home my SD card so that yall can see.
I learned an important lesson this week. Keep ahold of your map. When we were out tracting in the farthest part of our area last week I dropped our map. It was gone. I'm pretty sure that is was in cahootz with the 116 pages because it just vanished. So yeah.. We made the long trip home and that was that. We checked a whole bunch of gas stations and no one had a map. So i was just like.. For real? Whatever and just let it go sorta. So I decided that I would just pack around the big map we have that is like the official church one that is all fancy and has been hanging on the wall longer than adam was in the garden. Well.. That lasted all of about 2 hours before somehow, someway I managed to lose that one too... Whatever. So now not only did we not have a map to tract we had no map to plan. So we just kinda went with the flow. And of course there is no way that I am going to call the office couples haha I can't tell them I lost the map..
So the next morning we woke up, still no map, and no one knew where we could get one, so I texted the WML Brother Davis and he was able to print off about 10 sections of our area on google maps. It was cool except we had to overlap and piece together this monstrosity that took like a whole hour of our time. Then we realized that we were still missing like a third of it. So I was like whatever. I think Elder Dayton is just like what the heck... But it was just nuts. So we went down to action bikes, because I had to get my bike lock cut off of my bicycle because once again... I had lost my keys. So after drilling that off we went to work. We biked up to schertz and just took street after street til I finally saw a stop sign that we could park our bikes on. We locked up and knocked. One door, and a young man let us in. He told us that he needed us to help him out because he was struggling with prayer. It was a sweet lesson. I told him how one time I had prayed for a sign. For it to rain and it didn't and how I felt after that. He told me that he had done the exact same thing and that it had been the same result. Nothing. We were able to connect on such a personal level. We are going to start teaching him this week and I can't wait. But it was such a great lesson to me that 1. Everything happens for a reason. and 2. Just endure.
We also taught a couple of Hindu people! They live in our apartment complex and are like some of our best friends. They are sweet. They invited us over to hang out but we taught them a lesson. They had like a million questions about America and just the culture in general. I actually explained dating to them and just like off the wall stuff. They are a culture that is SO based on respect. We gave them Books of Mormons, but they told us they couldn't read them. We were both like.. Well.. Yes you can.. But then he showed us his Temple. In the bottom of his closet there lay his holy book along with the two pass-a-long cards that we had left in their doors the other times we had tried to visit. He told us that anything with his gods, someone elses God's was something so sacred and that if it was ever given to them He placed it in his temple. What else was neat is that before they can read it they must bathe. They have so much respect for there books and there religion that they want to be completely clean before they even lay hands on it. What a concept. It was so beautiful.
Yesterday was another great experience. After Church got over we were just walking the streets and I was ranting about school and we were talking about how GPA's don't really matter and blah, blah... But I wasn't really paying attention then all the sudden I like woke up of a sort and we were at an apartment complex. Something that we had no plan to do. So we went over to one building and started to knock. We knocked on a few doors and then finally we ran into a 19 yr old named Ian. We started talking to him on the door and the spirit hit me strong and basically said "Just shut up, and get in the door." I told him that we needed to come in, so we sat down and I started talking to him and told Him that I had a friend pass away in March. He told me that he had a friend die 2 days before and that he was having a hard time. Of course I was able at that point to tell Jake's story. I told him how hard it was to see him in the hospital and I don't even like going to hospitals to this day, I told him what a great athlete Jake is. He just was so great at being himself. We talked about our fears, we talked about the pre-mortal life and the existence after this, but most of all I was able to testify of the resurrection. I really don't know why, Jake has been such a big part of my mission. He must have known how much I needed him to help me get through it. It's crazy because even at home we didn't hang out all the time or anything, but we were friends, but out here we have such a deeper spiritual connection. He is here. He helps me. He laughs at me. (That one probably more than anything else.) But I am so blessed to have been able to know him. When I told Ian his story we both just went somber and he knew how much he needed that. I knew how much I needed that and we both knew that God had sent us there. I don't think Ian is going to get baptized, or become a Mormon next week, but I know that God loves all his children and so do I. I get to help others come unto Christ. Sometimes it's as simple as saying "I love you".
The single most important principle in the Plan, and I would dare-say the gospel, is that of the resurrection. Without that we have no hope, no belief, and no reason to be here. When life gets hard we can look at the atonement, know that He felt what I felt, what I am feeling and cares so much about me. We can look at the end result. He made it through. He had to endure a life time of questioning, persecution, and hard ships so that we could have the hope of eternal life. I finished Jesus the Christ, this last week and have come to realize how much more important the Savior is in my life than anything else. The insights into his life. The way that he masterfully answered the questions of not only the Scribes and Pharisees, but even down until the apostles was something that I can only hope to one day obtain. He does live. I really do know that. I was pondering on Peter this morning. I think Peter was for sure Jesus' favorite, and I always picture him as just a loyal goof-ball. Although he made some mistakes, he loved Christ. I can't wait to watch the video of Christ along the shore and Peter swimming out to get to land first. He love was something unimaginable. I wish to obtain that. To be a loyal, faithful, maybe a bit of a goof ball. But a special witness of Jesus the Christ.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Robert Funk
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
The 34th Epistle of Paul to the Funk Family
The 34th Epistle of Paul to the
Funk Family
Funk Family
Hey Yall. Greetings and blessings from the state of texas and the TSAM to yall! I am loving the work and finding alot of success in really developing my character. It's amazing how fast the refinery will change you if you allow it too. I really can't begin to comprehend the magnificence of the Atonement. It shapes every facet of life. Even when we don't recognize it. Every emotion that we have felt, are feeling, or will feel, has already been felt by someone so much greater than little ol' me. A Brother who walks beside me. It's an awesome feeling.
Well in the life of Paul this week we started off good, we got back to the apartment and Elder Dayton wanted to re-arrange the furniture. I'm not gonna lie, it works a bit better and it is a nice change. But yeah. That's what we did last P-day. So it was cool. We had all of our lessons fall through on us that night and it was sorta frustrating, so we just kinda walked home and whatever. We talk pretty much about the gospel 24/7. It is really so nice because I see all the energy and enthusiasm for the gospel that he has, and it's nice to be able to help direct him. It's really different training him rather than the first time. Like polar opposites. One had to be trained alot on the basics and now him he is really close but a bit full of himself at times.. Heck so am I.
Tuesday we helped a widow Sis Morgan. I pretty much just think of her as My Widow. I love to go over and help her with stuff. She always loves to talk and likes to let us come over and help her. She tries so hard to do missionary work. She lets us go talk to basically everybody that she knows. She gives us phone numbers and things like that. It is really so awesome. She and I get along so great. It is amazing that the age barrier is so tiny in so many people. The spirits are truly what connect two people. She is one of my best friends, I really love the scripture:
Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world. James 1:27.
It really is so true about what that scripture means. If we really forgot ourselves and go after those that are less fortunate than us we truly learn alot of the principles that governed the savior's Ministry. The comparison between the 4 Gospel accounts of his life and 3 Nephi 11-27 are incredibly linked. So many principles were so important that they needed to be taught to those people and they have to be taught to us twice by the savior. So how much more need we have to follow them today then they did back then.
So to follow up with that. We helped with another move. I basically think that my mission is turning into service projects. Which I will be honest. I love it. We showed up with the Funks to help them move and we showed up like 15 minutes late and the move was done! I couldn't believe it. So then they needed help but it was like in a different stake so I was like "Nah we can't go it's not in our area." Brother Funk got us in the car and then just drove right there! I called one of the members to find out where we were going and he just said. "Well policies are just man made anyway." It was funny. Maybe just to me. I think I surprise everyone with what I can lift though. It's pretty fun. Utah moves trained me well to practice picking up odd shaped things. Without breaking them.
Wednesday was a cool day. Well not temperature. It was over 100 like every single day. But Brother Davis went out with us and we went to see a whole bunch of families. Basically everyone that we had fell through but it still made for a fun day! Elder Dayton cracked because of the heat. He just passed out in the back seat. Sooo I convinced Brother Davis to pull over and we got out of the car quietly and let him just kinda bake in there for a few minutes. We didn't really want to kill him so we eventually woke him up but man he was sweating. It. was. Hilarious. Pretty much made that entire day worth waking up for.
Thursday was decent to. Elder Mckinley came over while the Zl's went over to some important people meeting. He is a Visa waiter going to Brazil so we were trying to do our weekly planning and that got destroyed as he told us about his encounter with Bigfoot in the Oregon jungle. So yeah. We basically played horse on our little basketball hoop... It was probably needed break anyway. We taught a sweet lesson to our one investigator named L. It was awesome. The spirit was really strong and she even came to church on Sunday. I really enjoyed it. We talked about prophets and Joseph smith especially. It was a really good meeting. I think she is really starting to come around to the truth. Just about there.
Friday and Saturday we knocked all day long. It was tough. It was in the hundreds and I got a flat that just is a gift that keeps on giving. I got a whole bunch of thorns that are stuck in the tire itself, so that's what I will probably spend the rest of pday doing is picking all of those out from the tire. Lame. Anyway. We walked basically everywhere. We taught one lesson though to a family that bashed pretty bad. They said that they made the last missionaries cry...I had fun though. We didn't really bash, I just told them what my testimony was, Invited them to church pray and read and we left. He wants us to come back in a couple of weeks so we will see how that one goes.
Taking the sacrament this week was really neat. I just felt so clean. I loved it. It is really so neat to be able to have the opportunity to have the cup cleaned from the inside and the out. Just as the Savior taught to the Pharisees. They were cleaning the outside but really on the inside they were filthy. I felt just so clean, that the Savior can look at me and say I am clean and also on the inside I am too. It really is such a renewal. A re-birth every single week.
Also. I got to go back to the best calling in the Church. Sunday school teacher! I got to teach freshman and sophmores again. Man is that the bomb. Something about that age is just my favorite. Maybe because I like to have fun and I don't take the gospel as "serious" as some. I like to apply it in weird ways. So I made up a lesson in my head and we went for it. The lesson was on hope and faith. I talked about running a race. We went though what their thoughts were at the beginning. It ranged from I wanna win! to I don't wanna finish last. It was awesome. I shared with them one of my favorite scriptures, Hebrews 12:2 which reads.
Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
We all have to endure the race. We all have different hopes aspirations and dreams. Faith and hope without works however is dead, as James tells us. So we have to carry on, hope on, believe and that day will come when "The finisher of our faith will be giving us that celestial medal of victory. Whatever the case. Do what is right, even when it seems no one is watching. Or in a much harder case it seems that everyone is watching. Do what is right! No one loves you more when you hide, it only hurts what's inside! So I leave my testimony that the Savior wants to fill the cracks of the heart with his love. The void with his care, and ourselves with his attributes. We can become like him. I know this to be true. In the name of Jesus Christ amen.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk
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