Well dang. Here we are again, it was basically the worst week ever! But it had a really good ending. I can't believe how fast that it went. It was crazy.. So let me tell ya about it. I wouldn't trade being a missionary for anything.
Yeah... So the "Broccoli Experiment." What a complete and udder failure. It was sooo bad. I was totally bummed out. So I felt terrible I went home and just chugged some nyquil tried to call the Mission President's wife and passed out at about 1 o'clock. I think I woke up like twice. I woke up once at like 9 o'clock to talk to Sister Staker because she randomly called, I still don't really have any idea why... I actually couldn't tell ya anything I said because I just basically fell back asleep and woke up at like 9 oclock the next day still feeling like I had just been forced to watch a Jim Carey movie, (I felt like crap). Finally the next day the doctor lady calls and tells me I have allergies. Cool. So I found some Allegra that had expired in August and downed that. It still worked. I felt like a new man. Still terrible, but at least able to "Funk"tion. so that was cool. We didn't work or anything on Tuesdaythough…
Then Wednesday was pretty much a dud too. We went to Nick's house and him and Jessica had gotten into a fight about something or other and heck I don't really know. It is all drama to me. I'll just tell ya everything now.. So long story short there was a cat fight between the girlfriend and the sister and the gf picked up the Ipad to chuck it and the sister dodged and the baby got the Ipad to the face. So Nick calls the cop, he is a felon so they start to harrass him, they tell him to get in the car and get away, only he doesn't have a drivers licsense. So he does anyway.. Just DRAMA. He called me as it was happening and we talked for a bit, needless to say, he had pretty decent excuse for not coming to church because all of the happened yesterday. I love Nick. Bishop hooked him up with like 20 presents and stuff so that was pretty sweet. I love that guy.
CHRISTMAS CONFERENCE!! it was pretty cool Loaded up on some sweet food and stuff... President lectured for 2 hours about angels and things he showed us tons of false doctrines about the Birth of Christ. It was awesome! He pulled out tons of art and stuff, and kinda pulled some jokes. He and I are really, really similar in our sense of humor but he is alot more refined and better at it. I love it alot. Most of the kids fell asleep because everyone had to drive a ton to get there and we got like 4 hours of sleep that night, but I stayed up and took notes. It was awesome. I loved it.
Lets see.. I went on Exchanges this Saturday. Terrible day. A dumb train parked outside our apartment at 4:30 and blasted it's horn. I couldn't sleep and it was just not fun. We ate a ton though. Our DL has a comp that is a little slower at doing things. He is such a sweet kid, from Mendon, but a little slow and shy, so me and him busted it that day on the bike, only it didn't seem very successful. Nothing seemed to pan out. The zl's of course called and told us that they couldn't drive us home or anything so we were stuck and had to call a member. I was beyond ticked. I still haven't talked to them. They left us hanging so bad, because they planned stuff over the top of us. Whatever. When I came home I wasn't in the best mode and then I found out that my bed got wet. and no one cleaned it up... So I was tired and cranky and had to stay and wash my bed stuff. Nobody's fault. It's just one of those things.
This mode carried over to Sunday morning. I had the hardest time getting up and going to church, I was just pretty angry from the week. When we got to church not a single Inv. Showed up. GREAT! So I was even more bummed out. We went and sat on the back row and we sat next to some mom and her two kids who were so loud! I was irradiated. But then I remembered a story about President Kimball in an airport where instead of complaining about a crying kid he went and helped. So I decided to do that and played with this kid the whole time and it was so much better. It made my whole day and whole week better.
I guess I get it a little bit more now. The spirit of Christ, I was really happy when I wasn't looking on the inside and instead was helping someone outside. I love the Savior. Doesn't mean I'm perfect, doesn't mean I understand everything but I love, love, love Him. He means the world to me. I know he live this Christmas season. He lives all year long. I am so grateful that one day I can kneel at His feet he will probably laugh with me a bit and then we can give each other the biggest hug. I know He is the Savior of the world. I know. I know. So Merry Christmas. I hope yours is as good as mine!
Love Yall.
Elder Funk
Remember who you are and what He stands for.
Monday, December 23, 2013
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Walking into a den of lions
Alright... So today, I am super sick actually! It really sucks to be sick on a P day... Yeah.. The one day that I don't want to be sick at all. Awesome right? So here is my plan. I woke up and downed some Yogurt to sooth my throat which went pretty well, then I took a flippin hot shower and made myself a pill cocktail! A few tylenol, some sweet vitamin C pills and something else I think.. I have a whole bunch of throat spray so I have been using that too. My plan is to be better in an hour or so... So to help that along a downed a big thing of water, then ate an entire bag of thawed broccoli. I'll keep ya updated. I am not going to be sick this week.
This week went by pretty dang fast. I can't believe that I am emailing again already.. Crazy. We have a couple of our investigators that are going to court today.. One of them is already in jail for running over his girlfriend and kid.. Nice... And the other for pushing his girlfriend... Yep. So this should be a good series of phone calls that I am going to making later...
We had our ward Christmas party this week! It was awesome. We had a ton of investigators that showed up and everything. This one was hawaiin themed. Which meant that they lady in charge told us to wear some skirt things that they were in the islands. Normally I would be totally down for that.. But I don't think Elder Le Sueur could handle that. Plus he didn't want to really wear anything under it so... Yeah. I had to but the hammer down on that one.. It was neat though. The Bishop really likes me alot and we are working with him even more, It's been neat to see the transition since I was able to start working here so long ago to now. It's gone from the missionaries not going to Ward Council or PEC to now the entire meeting is about missionary work! I guess I went on a bit of a rant there. Anyway I was talking to the bishop and he came over and nailed down some less actives that were there. Nice work. I wish I could have dressed up like an elf or something... I have good ears for it.
So before the party we went and worked with Kyle and we set up the Catholic Lecture. Yeah.. So we are going to lecture at Jon Paul the Second Catholic School in San Antonio, for some Super Theology class. Should be good. I'm pretty excited. We talked it out with the teacher and he wanted to know what he can ask and stuff, it's going to be question and answer for a good 30 minutes so... yeah I invited the smartest guy that I know. Brother Munoz, he told us no at first because he thought that he would lose his cool, but he texted us later that night and asked if he could come with us. We asked him what changed his mind. He said "I pictured the two of you walking into a den of lions alone." Foreboding right? I'll let ya know how it goes. President thought that it was good idea, and he gave me a ton of pointers for it.
Speaking of President we had interviews yesterday and it was so great to finallly have a good interview! Where I didn't get drilled for not doing something right, or having to have a concussion test. We talked about the gospel the entire time. That is what it is supposed to be. I told him about Elder Le Sueur and everything, basically his response was.. I know, you know when to push and when to let back, just keep doing your best. I really liked it. He was nice to know that someone has my back when things go down.
We had our zone meeting this week, it was pretty epic. We have this one elder that answers every single question. Sometimes he doesn't really talk about the same topic that we are on, but at least he tries. It was basically the same 5 of us commenting the whole time which gets kinda old for 3 hours, but I think it's important, especially for the people that are teaching. It is hard to teach when the entire audience is checked out. Anyway. I got asked a question and before I knew it I popped out some Micheal Jackson reference. Man, did the senior couple not love that one. It was "Man in the Mirror" song, so I thought it was appropriate, but they really don't like me, after I gave a few trainings about "Flirting to convert the members" and stuff. It seems like every time they don't like what I say. It is what it is.
Ok so we have this new investigator named Nathan, and he is sooo golden. I don't even think he realizes how golden he is. He knows the gospel already I'm pretty sure and is just waiting to tell us that he is already a member. The only thing that is really holding him up is that he understands it all but really just wants to know it all for knowledge not as a way of life, but that should change pretty soon as he starts to realize what is really going on. He came to church yesterday and I think that he really enjoyed it.
Speaking of church yesterday.. We got called Wednesday night to teach Gospel Principles, out of all the books that we have in the apartment I think that is probably the only one that we don't have. We have taught it before but alot of the time it is just winging it.. This one was on covenants. Great. So like halfway through the class I got called out into the hall and the member told me a ton of stuff that we needed to do with Nathan (the baptized one) It was a great except when I got back in I had no idea what they were talking about for like 5 minutes... It was a mess. The EQ president was there and I think he felt our pain. It didn't help that we didn't know anything about what we were talking about either...
I really can't think of a whole lot more stuff that happened this week. Oh I did get Grandma and Grandpa Steel's package this week, and it had 3 wrapped things in it. So I justified myself and thought that I could open just one. So I did! It was totally just a bunch of coal. Talk about Ironic.
The neatest thing by far that was this week was that the Magana's came to chuch!!!! It has been like 4 months of working with them and they finally made it! I was so so so happy to see them. It came after we went over there and had a lesson with them and really just listened to what they had to say. What their concerns were about coming and everything. They were just overwhelmed by the amount of people that were going to be there. Which is totally understandable. We talked and talked about it and they came! They even gave us a christmas present. A bowl and some Chili. It is awesome to see when people don't have alot, they are still willing to give. That is the kind of person that I want to be, when I grow up.
I can't believe how fast that the mission is going.. It's scary!! I am having fun, and working hard. It's cool though. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Elder Paul Funk
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
This week went by pretty dang fast. I can't believe that I am emailing again already.. Crazy. We have a couple of our investigators that are going to court today.. One of them is already in jail for running over his girlfriend and kid.. Nice... And the other for pushing his girlfriend... Yep. So this should be a good series of phone calls that I am going to making later...
We had our ward Christmas party this week! It was awesome. We had a ton of investigators that showed up and everything. This one was hawaiin themed. Which meant that they lady in charge told us to wear some skirt things that they were in the islands. Normally I would be totally down for that.. But I don't think Elder Le Sueur could handle that. Plus he didn't want to really wear anything under it so... Yeah. I had to but the hammer down on that one.. It was neat though. The Bishop really likes me alot and we are working with him even more, It's been neat to see the transition since I was able to start working here so long ago to now. It's gone from the missionaries not going to Ward Council or PEC to now the entire meeting is about missionary work! I guess I went on a bit of a rant there. Anyway I was talking to the bishop and he came over and nailed down some less actives that were there. Nice work. I wish I could have dressed up like an elf or something... I have good ears for it.
So before the party we went and worked with Kyle and we set up the Catholic Lecture. Yeah.. So we are going to lecture at Jon Paul the Second Catholic School in San Antonio, for some Super Theology class. Should be good. I'm pretty excited. We talked it out with the teacher and he wanted to know what he can ask and stuff, it's going to be question and answer for a good 30 minutes so... yeah I invited the smartest guy that I know. Brother Munoz, he told us no at first because he thought that he would lose his cool, but he texted us later that night and asked if he could come with us. We asked him what changed his mind. He said "I pictured the two of you walking into a den of lions alone." Foreboding right? I'll let ya know how it goes. President thought that it was good idea, and he gave me a ton of pointers for it.
Speaking of President we had interviews yesterday and it was so great to finallly have a good interview! Where I didn't get drilled for not doing something right, or having to have a concussion test. We talked about the gospel the entire time. That is what it is supposed to be. I told him about Elder Le Sueur and everything, basically his response was.. I know, you know when to push and when to let back, just keep doing your best. I really liked it. He was nice to know that someone has my back when things go down.
We had our zone meeting this week, it was pretty epic. We have this one elder that answers every single question. Sometimes he doesn't really talk about the same topic that we are on, but at least he tries. It was basically the same 5 of us commenting the whole time which gets kinda old for 3 hours, but I think it's important, especially for the people that are teaching. It is hard to teach when the entire audience is checked out. Anyway. I got asked a question and before I knew it I popped out some Micheal Jackson reference. Man, did the senior couple not love that one. It was "Man in the Mirror" song, so I thought it was appropriate, but they really don't like me, after I gave a few trainings about "Flirting to convert the members" and stuff. It seems like every time they don't like what I say. It is what it is.
Ok so we have this new investigator named Nathan, and he is sooo golden. I don't even think he realizes how golden he is. He knows the gospel already I'm pretty sure and is just waiting to tell us that he is already a member. The only thing that is really holding him up is that he understands it all but really just wants to know it all for knowledge not as a way of life, but that should change pretty soon as he starts to realize what is really going on. He came to church yesterday and I think that he really enjoyed it.
Speaking of church yesterday.. We got called Wednesday night to teach Gospel Principles, out of all the books that we have in the apartment I think that is probably the only one that we don't have. We have taught it before but alot of the time it is just winging it.. This one was on covenants. Great. So like halfway through the class I got called out into the hall and the member told me a ton of stuff that we needed to do with Nathan (the baptized one) It was a great except when I got back in I had no idea what they were talking about for like 5 minutes... It was a mess. The EQ president was there and I think he felt our pain. It didn't help that we didn't know anything about what we were talking about either...
I really can't think of a whole lot more stuff that happened this week. Oh I did get Grandma and Grandpa Steel's package this week, and it had 3 wrapped things in it. So I justified myself and thought that I could open just one. So I did! It was totally just a bunch of coal. Talk about Ironic.
The neatest thing by far that was this week was that the Magana's came to chuch!!!! It has been like 4 months of working with them and they finally made it! I was so so so happy to see them. It came after we went over there and had a lesson with them and really just listened to what they had to say. What their concerns were about coming and everything. They were just overwhelmed by the amount of people that were going to be there. Which is totally understandable. We talked and talked about it and they came! They even gave us a christmas present. A bowl and some Chili. It is awesome to see when people don't have alot, they are still willing to give. That is the kind of person that I want to be, when I grow up.
I can't believe how fast that the mission is going.. It's scary!! I am having fun, and working hard. It's cool though. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world.
Elder Paul Funk
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Monday, December 16, 2013
Monday, December 9, 2013
Member Referrals are great!
Another week as Elder Funk.
Before I forget. This one is mostly for Spencer but I guess that the rest of yall might think that it is kinda cool too. Brady Jardine served in the TSAM! Not only that but he was one of the zone leaders that lived by us! Crazy. I saw his name written on the table which was pretty cool. So yeah. He is one of my favorites, I sat in the same seat he did!
This week was super fast, but at the same time.. Not really. We started off and it was 85 degrees last P day! Awesome weather especially when I found out that it was freezing cold in Logan. haha. Sorry to hear that, but it went so cold the last part of the week. It was actually below freezing. It was hilarious to watch as people all drove past with the same look, just thinking "wow.. That has to be terrible." Trying to clean up some language because...... So Brother Viens wanted me to call the missionaries in Maryland and vouch for him that he was a good guy and yada yada yada, so I was like whatever sounds good to me. So I call them up on Tuesday morning and start telling them the usual stuff, "He's a great member, I think he might be the 4th Nephite.. If Moroni needed someone to help him balance on the ball that would be Brother Viens." Whatever right? So I decided that I needed to tell them that he had alot of crap that needed to be moved and that they shouldn't just show up the two of them. Well I guess Crap in Maryland is like the F bomb or something because he started to tell me to read the white handbook and that I needed to change my language. I responded with a "I am living in Texas." and Hung up the phone... Jerk.
One more pretty funny thing then I will go spirtual or something.. Yeah so we have this investigator named Micheal. He is awesome. He twirls the sign for the cash for gold place, super humble guy. So we went over to go see him and like a block away we could hear this mexican music just poundin. As we got closer it got louder then bam guess who it was. Our now completely drunk investigator chillin with his windows open in 32 degree weather. Nice.
We actually were pretty busy teaching this week! we had alot of things fall through but we seemed to recover pretty well. My Favorite day was when we went out with Kyle again and he drove us around for a couple of hours. It was cold and like the first three people that we tried didn't really work out but it was cool anyway. We got a referral from the church for some less active members and decided to just drop by, right as we did, she pulled into her drive way at the same time and she said she has always pushed the missionaries away, but she would listen for 15 minutes. It was incredible! She told us that she had a bad experience just a few days earlier and took this as a sign that she needs to go back to church.
Gloooooooorrrriiiaaaa. (Just say that singing it..) So cool stuff. Gloria called her cousin who is member and said she wants to get baptized. Sweet. The member told her that she had to read the Book of Mormon and come to church first. Gloria said that she already knew that the Book of Mormon was true because Sister Huff told her it was, she told her that she had to pray about it. Good work Sister Huff!! So I will keep yall posted.
We had another member text us last night and set us up with a baptism. Yep. Sounds like it. It is an 11 year old kid who is had his sister get baptized a while ago and his grandparents think that it is time! So that is awesome. We are going to call them today and hopefully go over tomorrow!! I'm excited.
Then... yesterday we had 7 Investigators at church!!!!! That is a mission record for me! I was so so so so happy. I felt like a kid in a candy store. Just running from place to place trying to get everyone fellowshipped but the ward did so good at helping them out. Kiana's family came I think that I told you here story. She backed into Brother Viens car and then he told them to take the missionary lessons. If I didn’t, tell me and I will tell you the whole story later. But anyway. They came! It was super awesome! The all did super great. Another guy named Nick and his daughter Raylan came to church with us, we were like 10 minutes late because we were picking them up and yeah.. So we went and sat on the front row of the church! Prime seating so that they don't have the whole bad experience of the back with all the kids.. That's what Elder Golden told us to do. It worked. Then another guy named Lawrence came! He ate it up! He had been to a bunch of churches before and hadn't been accepted very well and now he found it. Cool stuff.
So I can't believe that I have been out a year already.. so much has really changed and been made better, and I can't believe that I made it sometimes! I love the Lord now with all my heart. On a note though. Sunday school teachers make a difference. My Favorite all time lesson was from Brother Sorenson when I was a teacher. He brought in a Tv and we watched the Jimmy V speech. That Speech has brought me so much peace.. I almost feel like he wrote it for me. The other one that made a difference was Brother Downs. I am a poetry addict since I have been on the mission. I love it, love it, love it. So I started to write a little bit. Brother Downs might have to revise this one but I call it "My First Year".
At the finish of My First Year,
Life's tough, taught lessons I hold dear.
Trials, heartbreak, a bit of fun,
In many ways, His Will was done.
The Lord's MTC prepared me and took,
Much patient study of Mormon's Book.
Then, His work I desired do,
On a plane to Texas I flew!
There, the Lord loaned me my first truck,
With weight too, just my dang luck...
Some many things He gave to my gain,
All together outweigh the aches and pain.
I miss my buddy Jake, serving in Paradise;
Teaching all, giving life's golden advice.
Jake meets and greets, those passing on,
That is His plan, none to be gone.
My Testimony grew stronger over time:
"God's plan is free, it doesn't cost a dime.
He asks instead to be sin-free,
A Perfect son, one I wish to be."
See Y'all, I'm not quite yet there,
I sure work hard, my cross I bare.
I teach the Book or Mormon all day,
It's Holy Laws, strive to obey.
I've thrice read it, through and through,
Again I'm reading, more truth pursue.
Abinidi's story became my favorite,
He gave his life for treasure infinite.
Now Mother, don't you worry, I'm far from fire,
But, if I bike next summer, the heat may be dire.
I feel the Lord's "real fire" I now know,
That from where His sacred instructions flow.
See, I learned to listen every day,
Because seat belt tickets are pricey to pay!
He always comforted me when distraught,
Confirmed the many messages I have taught.
So with His help, my final year I go,
Hopefully to make more friends than foe.
To teach His way, with His spirit,
With luck, I may even stay fit!
Who knows, I may meet my cowgirl one day,
Maybe I've seen her along the way.
In year's time, she'll look back, and we'll be proud,
For I will proclaim to all real loud:
"This is God's plan, His Marvelous truth,
A Prophet's word, my precious proof.
One Simple Prayer from a young boy,
Has out stood many Satan's ploy.
Our Father and Brother appeared to that lad,
Established truth, for which I am glad.
His Peace to me in a sweet sentence gives:
'My Redeemer lives, He lives, He Lives!' "
Now I hold my head up proud and high,
For not a moment ever passed me by;
I did not know, and love my best friend,
My Savior, Jesus Christ, at my first year's end.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Funk
Thursday, December 5, 2013
New Vacuum!
Alright well here is another week in the life of a Funk:
It was moving week. Seriously. I think that just about everyone decided that they needed to move this week. We ended our P day a little bit early at like 5 or so and went to help Brother Viens move a whole bunch of stuff. It was so much.. He had a house hold of stuff in a two bedroom apartment. So we loaded it up into the trailer and it took pretty much the entire night. The next morning he picked us up and again we loaded all morning. What was really nice is that he bought us Subway and he had basically no money. He is such a good guy. They only thing is that he is a Red Sox fan and so I have been working on saving his soul. Love the guy though.
Elder Hackworth wanted to me to do a call out to all those that may be reading this. He needs some of those women folk to write him... SO if you read this. and you fit in that category... Write him. Now. Just do it. You can send them to my address and I will hand deliver them with a hug and a brotherly kiss. Just like the apostle Paul taught. On a side note. You could also write me.. Either way. We appreciate letters.
So Tuesday... I finally got to go to the temple! It was so great. I decided to go to the 4 o clock session so that it would take up the least amount of prime time as possible right? Well it just so happened that President Slaughter was taking all of the missionaries that were going home the next day, through at the exact same time. So.. Temple Crashers Funk addition.. Yeah... That was awkward, people were asking if we were excited to go home assuming that we were with them.. We played it off pretty good. I just felt bad for them. They were all bawling in the Celestial room and I was like a kid in a candy store.
Thanksgiving was super sweet! We went over to the Rohrer's house for dinner. They had a bunch of family over and so that was pretty fun. I pounded down like two plates of food, Elder Le Sueur wanted to go to Ihop before we went over there and so he didn't even finish one and told the members that he went to IHop. I don't think they liked that. Whatever I guess. Transfer meeting was pretty cool Elder Jones, (Eric) got shipped back down to the border. I think that he is training down there and Elder Hughes and Low are both up in Austin somewhere, They are both Senior comps. I love those guys. Elder Hughes called me and we had a solid conversation about the good ole' days in the UC. Anyway back to the dinner. It was good then we played this game called compatibility. I owned. Le Sueur and I partnered up first and then I was with Simion the rohrers 13 year old son. It was sweet. I totally owned both times. Then we played some Apples to Apples. That was pretty fun too. I didn't win though..
The rest of the week was just a blur! We got to help with another move that was the day after thanksgiving. I was so tired.. We moved and moved.. Then when it got done they gave us and Brother Vien's 40 bucks to go and get some food. We went to taco Cabana and got some fajita's's. super terrible. We wasted our money. But that was cool because we had some pizza and wings for dinner. Clearly I have been eating healthy already. I was bummed about the money though...
Oh! We had another move this week. This was the bad. So we were helping this guy that is in the Army he has super bad PTSD and so he doesn't come to church. Really a fantastic guy though. He wanted to move his 800 pound gun safe into his new house.. That's great. It took like 45 minutes for us to slid this safe only to find out that it is the exact same size as the door jam of the closet. I was the smallest person there so guess where my spot was? You guessed it.. Pulling on the inside of the closet. Luckily we got the gun safe about half way in before it got stuck. I was trapped in there for an hour while they tried to shove it in. Yep. It didn't go. We destroyed the Door jam and evetually after 2 hours it finally went in. It was pretty frustrating. His wife wasn't pleased, but hey. we got it done.
Oh so I got a call out during Fast Sunday. Kyle walked in (He is 22 just got married and is going to BYU I) and was like Funk! you didn't get transferred?! I was like "Nope!" But then he got up and bore his testimony later and said something to the effect of "Man I walked in today and saw Elder Funk and was so surprised! He said that he was going on 7 and half months here and I just had to tell him to Hang in there! I remember on my mission when I was somewhere for 5.. Boy was that rough.. " It was pretty funny.. Kinda made me look like I didn't want to be here, but I totally love Kyle. He leaves like next week though for BYU I. So does Jordan one of my good friends.
We got Vacuum. Yep. I was super pumped. (no pun intended) Ya never know how much a blessing that is until you don't have it. I LOVE to vacuum.
Blessings come large and small I think that is what I learned this week. Is that they come in many different ways. I didn't quite tell the whole story at Brother Vien's so in case you were wondering what really happened at the move.. Here ya go.
So we showed up the move and got inside to wait for some more people, they didn't come. Then when were about to get started, the heavens decided that it was time for rain to come! Brother Viens was pretty down, but he had to get his stuff out. I walked out to the edge of the Truck and by myself asked Heavenly Father if he would let the rain stop for a while so that we could move Brother Viens. It didn't stop. So I decided that I would has one more time. After I lifted my head up all the rain stopped right there. We moved the rest of the night. I was so, so grateful that Heavenly Father answered a prayer, because we really needed it.
I am so grateful for the scriptures, I get to study them everyday and I love it. I am nearly done with the Book of Mormon again for the third time and it's neat because I know that when I start it again next week it will have been "re written" for my new situation. It's amazing that if you read everyday, something always pops out for what you need. There hasn't been a day that has gone by where it hasn't given me new knowledge of what I needed.
The greatest blessing of the week though came when we went to gospel principles. The teacher was late and I was not wanting to get up another unprepared lesson so Nathan the kid we just got to baptize jumped up there and started talking away. He wanted to talk about how we felt the holy spirit. He ended up teaching the entire lesson. It was alot of story telling from everyone. As he was teaching I thought, this is what Christ was like sitting in the temple as a kid. He was so young, kinda like how Nathan is young in the gospel, but he knew so much. It's funny how such a simple thing can make a week go by so much better.
So now it is probably going to be another hard week, but I get to figure some more stuff out! Read a little deeper, grow a little stronger, learn a lot more. I wouldn't trade my mission for anything in the world. It is great. I love lessons that I learn.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Funk
It was moving week. Seriously. I think that just about everyone decided that they needed to move this week. We ended our P day a little bit early at like 5 or so and went to help Brother Viens move a whole bunch of stuff. It was so much.. He had a house hold of stuff in a two bedroom apartment. So we loaded it up into the trailer and it took pretty much the entire night. The next morning he picked us up and again we loaded all morning. What was really nice is that he bought us Subway and he had basically no money. He is such a good guy. They only thing is that he is a Red Sox fan and so I have been working on saving his soul. Love the guy though.
Elder Hackworth wanted to me to do a call out to all those that may be reading this. He needs some of those women folk to write him... SO if you read this. and you fit in that category... Write him. Now. Just do it. You can send them to my address and I will hand deliver them with a hug and a brotherly kiss. Just like the apostle Paul taught. On a side note. You could also write me.. Either way. We appreciate letters.
So Tuesday... I finally got to go to the temple! It was so great. I decided to go to the 4 o clock session so that it would take up the least amount of prime time as possible right? Well it just so happened that President Slaughter was taking all of the missionaries that were going home the next day, through at the exact same time. So.. Temple Crashers Funk addition.. Yeah... That was awkward, people were asking if we were excited to go home assuming that we were with them.. We played it off pretty good. I just felt bad for them. They were all bawling in the Celestial room and I was like a kid in a candy store.
Thanksgiving was super sweet! We went over to the Rohrer's house for dinner. They had a bunch of family over and so that was pretty fun. I pounded down like two plates of food, Elder Le Sueur wanted to go to Ihop before we went over there and so he didn't even finish one and told the members that he went to IHop. I don't think they liked that. Whatever I guess. Transfer meeting was pretty cool Elder Jones, (Eric) got shipped back down to the border. I think that he is training down there and Elder Hughes and Low are both up in Austin somewhere, They are both Senior comps. I love those guys. Elder Hughes called me and we had a solid conversation about the good ole' days in the UC. Anyway back to the dinner. It was good then we played this game called compatibility. I owned. Le Sueur and I partnered up first and then I was with Simion the rohrers 13 year old son. It was sweet. I totally owned both times. Then we played some Apples to Apples. That was pretty fun too. I didn't win though..
The rest of the week was just a blur! We got to help with another move that was the day after thanksgiving. I was so tired.. We moved and moved.. Then when it got done they gave us and Brother Vien's 40 bucks to go and get some food. We went to taco Cabana and got some fajita's's. super terrible. We wasted our money. But that was cool because we had some pizza and wings for dinner. Clearly I have been eating healthy already. I was bummed about the money though...
Oh! We had another move this week. This was the bad. So we were helping this guy that is in the Army he has super bad PTSD and so he doesn't come to church. Really a fantastic guy though. He wanted to move his 800 pound gun safe into his new house.. That's great. It took like 45 minutes for us to slid this safe only to find out that it is the exact same size as the door jam of the closet. I was the smallest person there so guess where my spot was? You guessed it.. Pulling on the inside of the closet. Luckily we got the gun safe about half way in before it got stuck. I was trapped in there for an hour while they tried to shove it in. Yep. It didn't go. We destroyed the Door jam and evetually after 2 hours it finally went in. It was pretty frustrating. His wife wasn't pleased, but hey. we got it done.
Oh so I got a call out during Fast Sunday. Kyle walked in (He is 22 just got married and is going to BYU I) and was like Funk! you didn't get transferred?! I was like "Nope!" But then he got up and bore his testimony later and said something to the effect of "Man I walked in today and saw Elder Funk and was so surprised! He said that he was going on 7 and half months here and I just had to tell him to Hang in there! I remember on my mission when I was somewhere for 5.. Boy was that rough.. " It was pretty funny.. Kinda made me look like I didn't want to be here, but I totally love Kyle. He leaves like next week though for BYU I. So does Jordan one of my good friends.
We got Vacuum. Yep. I was super pumped. (no pun intended) Ya never know how much a blessing that is until you don't have it. I LOVE to vacuum.
Blessings come large and small I think that is what I learned this week. Is that they come in many different ways. I didn't quite tell the whole story at Brother Vien's so in case you were wondering what really happened at the move.. Here ya go.
So we showed up the move and got inside to wait for some more people, they didn't come. Then when were about to get started, the heavens decided that it was time for rain to come! Brother Viens was pretty down, but he had to get his stuff out. I walked out to the edge of the Truck and by myself asked Heavenly Father if he would let the rain stop for a while so that we could move Brother Viens. It didn't stop. So I decided that I would has one more time. After I lifted my head up all the rain stopped right there. We moved the rest of the night. I was so, so grateful that Heavenly Father answered a prayer, because we really needed it.
I am so grateful for the scriptures, I get to study them everyday and I love it. I am nearly done with the Book of Mormon again for the third time and it's neat because I know that when I start it again next week it will have been "re written" for my new situation. It's amazing that if you read everyday, something always pops out for what you need. There hasn't been a day that has gone by where it hasn't given me new knowledge of what I needed.
The greatest blessing of the week though came when we went to gospel principles. The teacher was late and I was not wanting to get up another unprepared lesson so Nathan the kid we just got to baptize jumped up there and started talking away. He wanted to talk about how we felt the holy spirit. He ended up teaching the entire lesson. It was alot of story telling from everyone. As he was teaching I thought, this is what Christ was like sitting in the temple as a kid. He was so young, kinda like how Nathan is young in the gospel, but he knew so much. It's funny how such a simple thing can make a week go by so much better.
So now it is probably going to be another hard week, but I get to figure some more stuff out! Read a little deeper, grow a little stronger, learn a lot more. I wouldn't trade my mission for anything in the world. It is great. I love lessons that I learn.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Paul Funk
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