Seguin Texas

What a whale of a week. I don't think that I will go quite in chronological order so bear with me, but I will do my best.

 

Well I learned a lesson this week. We shouldn't laugh at other's misfortunes... I was at my last dinner appointment in the UC on Wednesday night and the father came home from work and told us that early in the day he had seen some Elders that were standing out on the side of the road because they had rear ended someone with their truck. We figured it was the moving Elder's Truck and they were ok so it was all just pretty funny. Well... The next morning was transfers.

 

So anyway transfers rolled around and we got through all of the San Antonio Zones and I was like Heck Yeah! I'm going to Austin baby!! Then they said they were going to announce the last district the New Braunfels District which was really pretty close to the UC. The got all the way to the last ones the Seguin Elders. The AP said "Alright, we got a double in! Elder Funk and Elder Van Oene!" Yep... I suppose the Assistants forgot to tell me that we were going to get doubled in.(doubled in means both Elders are new to the area) They used to back in the day. It's cool. So Seguin is out in the middle of nowhere! We are basically in the boonies. I got a picture but I forgot to bring my camera today, so if you google it and nothing comes up, it's not because I made up this area, it might just be that out of the world. So we gathered our bags I hugged my precious Elder Le Sueur good bye and headed toward the car. Oh wait. This is where the two stories come together, that truck that the member had seen was our truck. The Seguin Elders... Funny how the world works like that sometimes. So I went to talk to the Assistants and the one just looked and me and said, "Oh your the one that got doubled into Seguin?... pause... Good luck!" That was comforting! Basically everyone wished us luck... We got a car a couple of days later and now we have an ancient ford fusion. All the way from 2010. I'm totally kidding, it is super sweet. I love it. Especially on the dirt roads. I'm going to catch some air if I'm not careful.

 

I'll tell you more in a sec but I guess I should wrap up the UC before I start something new. The "Lion's Den" turned out to be more like a petting zoo. It was one of the single most incredible experiences of my life. We walked in and we were like super stars. Everyone that was around us absolutely loved having us there. It was a little different to see real Catholic students and everything, it was basically like a seminary. We walked into class and the teacher without us knowing had given the students a packet called "What Catholics should know about Mormons" I was like great... So I asked him if I could have it real quick and read it all before class started. Luckily that was a skill that I practiced all through High School and it finally came in handy. Who says Procrastination was never beneficial? Anyway it was pretty accurate. It did highlight the point of us becoming Gods though, alot. We started with the 13 Articles of Faith and taught that for a 15 minutes and then opened up to the question and answer segment. The spirit was so incredibly strong and the students had prepared to listen. Every single one of the 30 of them had a question for us and we answered questions for 30 minutes or so. The kept wanting to know about the becoming a God idea, and I told them "Well Yes! Of course that is true. It's the best goal that we really can have, our Father wants us all to become like him." I also taught about original sin by saying that Dad wasn't responsible for what I do when I am here in Texas, and I am not responsible for what he does in Utah. They didn't ask anything about that... Probably the only thing weird was that they prayed the Lord's prayer at the beginning and added some stuff. It was different. And some of the girls in the back were staring at us as it was going on and I think they could feel how awkward we felt, so they giggled the whole time. Pretty neat experience. There was one kid in there named Mike, as soon as he walked in I could feel something about him, and as we got into the Q&A a bit more, he started answering the questions with the info that we had already talked about! I really feel in my heart that one day, he will be one that accepts the gospel. Jacob  (The Teacher) is an amazing man, and I am so grateful that I was given that opportunity.

 

As the UC wrapped up, I didn't go and say all the good bye's  I thought I might, we just went to work and did the small and simple things, because, I think that I will for sure go back there one day. I love those people. The hardest thing leaving was that there is a man named Wayne Breshears, he has a speech impediment, and he became one of my best friends in the whole ward. He is a hard working guy, he works in the oil fields and we did alot of stuff together. He took us to breakfast alot and we always did stuff, he was the one that took me to the temple. I love that guy to death. He called me from the Oil rig the night before I left and said that he was thinking about transfers (Which was weird because I never told him when it was) and wanted to say bye. He was the epitome of humility and love.. I hope that one day I can be like that. He really is one of my best friends out here. Such an amazing guy. That was an amazing ward. I am so grateful for all the experiences that I had while I was there. 

So now here were are in Seguin. It is working town. After we got doubled in we looked at the board and I don't want to say we have nothing... But we don't really have anything either, so one way or another we are going to have to get some stuff going here. We met the ward mission leader luckily the night we got here. We had to go by faith to find the church because the map they used possible was in the truck... Anyway we found it. He is the best!! I love that guy, basically a mix between Gary Thomas and Uncle Si from duck dynasty, the first thing that he did when he met us, was give us both some dr. peppers and a nice new pocket knife. Requisites to Texas missionary work. Whatever works right?

Well the next day we had Elder Bednar come! Two apostles, 4 members of the 70, on my mission so far! I am so blessed. He lectured for 3 hours and did a question and answer session it was so incredible. He answered questions that I don't even think I had before I got there. I loved it. He is super funny, he told us not to really quote him, he said some stuff that was mind boggling though! I will for sure tell you all about in 11 months. 

What a trip this one is going to be. The Lord has to give us harder and harder opportunities to learn and grow, so I guess this is another one of those! After this area I might only have one left! AH! It all goes by so quickly. By the way my comps name is Elder Van Oene (Una) he is from Utah too. Totally military and I am a total goofball, so I guess we will see, we work really well together so far. He puts up with me pretty good so I count that as a blessing. 

Well that is it for now! The Zone Leaders called and said they want us to give a training on "game-planning" for a new area. Super. I guess we should be experts on that... First off though we need to get a map of our area... We don't really have one of those yet... How did those Elders do it...? The world may never know... 

Oh one last side note.. I guess when you walk into a part member's house and Glee is on the TV the first thing you shouldn't do is to start naming the characters and talking to the member about it. I got a lotta gay jokes going my way the rest of the night. Hey. I like it for the songs.

Remember who you are and what He stands for!

Elder Funk