15 more letters!

Well Family here we go again.
I can't believe that is Ry's first area, apparently he was alot more righteous then me because I had to work for 18 months before I started living the dream.... Just sayin. Glad he is doing well though. Just gotta watch out for those college girls. They really are kinda crazy sometimes. For real though.
Everything is going really great here. I think Elder McCombs and Snow are my favorite companions. We seriously laugh all day. The only down side is that we have so many inside jokes running right now is that at dinner sometimes we just make ourselves laugh and can't stop and no one else understands... I love it.
If I had to describe Elder McCombs it would be Kyle Mohlman and Elder Snow is alot like Taylor Thomas. Pretty cool combo. Just need a J walk and it would be the perfect companionship. Oh and Eric Jones lives down the street. What more can I ask for?
As far as investigators go, we had a bunch come to church this week.
The Alamo 1st sisters gave us a baptism for Saturday. Literally all we have to do is pick the guy up for church and we are in the clear. He is great. He is a music teacher and so we talked and talked throughout church. He is so sweet. Doing great.
Joseph also is doing really well. He came to church again, he is all set to get baptized on Saturday too. Double Baptism!
Bethany is also rock solid. She sent us a text the other day talking about how grateful she was to find the truth and it was really, really great to get. She is super cool. Super out going and boy am I saying super alot in this email... Super annoying.
We are also teaching this guy named Monty who has date for the 13th of August. He is fantastic, he worked all night and stayed up all day til 1pm so that he could come to church with us. We are going to teach him again tomorrow. He is from North Carolina, so that is pretty cool.
Hmm... Best thing that happened this week. I think probably the coolest thing is that we have this thing going right now where one of us will say something and then all 3 of us will randomly break out into the same random song. Everytime on the same part. Our favorite is Since you've been gone. That probably happened two or 3 times this week.
Also we have been eating like Junk. When we combined the two areas we have seriously been running ragged trying to get everything figured out. I pretty much don't even have time to do personal study anymore because we are going around so much.. Ridiculous. Kinda like it though for some parts of it. We just eat out alot and I am gaining a bit of weight, so this week I am going to go on a diet. Not even kidding we have 5 different pizza boxes in our fridge right now because members have dropped food off because we didn't have time to take a dinner break.
We got new district adjustments and I have sisters in my district now. Kinda weird. Basically switched up my game plan for what I want to see happen. I think I'm going to base my tranings more on finding success and happiness or something. I have no idea what girls are thinking, truth is though... I never will...
Oh! I went to a Catholic church on splits this week. We are supposed to be covering two wards, but I haven't had time to actually make it to the other one because of ward council and this Catholic thing. It was an indoctrination class for people trying to become Catholic. Mike invited us because he wanted to come. I went on splits with Sebastian, and we went. It was pretty different. Overall it makes me more and more grateful for the things that we have and we know. It was pretty sad to see doctrines trying to be twisted to make it seem right. I really do love the catholic people, they are great. But. I really do know beyond anything else that what we have is the truth, the whole truth. I read once that "Things of the spirit can be known with more surety then thing of the physical world." I believe that I am beginning to understand that a bit more each and everyday.
I am glad everything is going well!
Remember who you are and what he stands for!
Elder Funk

The Mission is GREAT

Howdy.

Alright so this week was really great but boy did it go by fast.

We got to teach Bethany 3 times this week. She came to FHE last Monday and we also set her with a date on the 6th of September to get baptized which was really great. She came to dinner with us a couple of times and everything which was fantastic. She is so prepared. We sang in our Lovely Deseret and she told us that she thought caffeine was bad anyway. That was super cool.

We also picked up another investigator named Joseph. He is a valet for the nicest Hotel in town. He also has a date for the 30th. It's fantastic. We are going to go pick up another one tomorrow that has been going to a different ward for a few weeks and then the Sisters are going to pass off one to us later on this week. The work is exploding right now. Probably have 4 Baptisms this transfer, and Elder Jones is probably going to baptize a family too. Crazy!

Almost forgot. Elder Vega an Elder we live with got ET'ed and so we picked up Elder Snow and he is with us now. Covering both areas... Kinda crazy, because they were busy and we are getting super busy. I'm just super tired. We don't get home til probably 9:30 or sometimes a little later everyday. It's a fantastic problem to have.

However we had to go to family ward this week, it was SO loud compared to the Singles ward. It's just so different. I got so distracted and had the hardest time in the world staying focused on the sacrament and stuff.

Let's see... I can't really think of to much else that happened this week. We are basically over our miles already for the month because of all the craziness that has been going on. So that will be a fun miles report to turn in.... Not.

P day I rocked my ankle. It was pretty lame. One of the Elder's came down right on my knee and ankle and stuff. It hurt super bad. I think Savon is going to tape it up so that I can play again today, basketball is what is keeping me sane basically.
Goodness. I really got nothing this week.

I got to ordain Savon Kamakanamakemaeoklohapau'ole Moniz to the Priesthood yesterday. I even got the name right. Yep it surprised me too when I got it. He is such a fantastic guy. He really is going to change the world. He is going to be going on a mission pretty soon, but he will come back and probably go play basketball and football for a college. I am trying hard to recruit for USU. I tell him everyday that the Aggies will take him. I mean, he did sign to go Oregon so I figure he is good enough to play for anyone. I love Savon.

I also got to go on splits with Erik this week. He is one of my hero's too. We basically drove around for 2 or 3 hours and knocked on empty doors, we did get one guy to drop the F bomb at us... So that was good.

Hmm.... What else. For FHE we went and made commercials to sell stuff that wasn't really the object. So for example we turned a hat into a soup bowl and had to advertise it as that. It was pretty funny. Bethany even participated and gave us some background music on the piano. Pretty cool..
I can't even express how much I love Jesus Christ. It probably sounds like I say the same thing every week about how much he means to me. He can change everything.

I had kinda a cool experience this week thinking back. I was thinking about how in the beginning of my mission if I had taught the lessons I am teaching now I would have been SOO excited and thrilled about everything, but now I am like, "K, what's next. Man, I'm tired... I'm hungry... Is it 5 yet?" and I was wondering what the difference is and why maybe I feel different about it all... Then I looked up in the sky and saw just some clouds and thought about how neat it was that God created each one of those and puts together everything in our lives for us. He places everything in our path.I just took some time to think about all the small things that he does and realized how great everything really fits together. It's easy when life is easy, but shouldn't it be easier when life is hard? It was an interesting thought that I don't know if I can quite put into words, but just seeing the clouds and realizing how great God is and how magnificent his plan is for each one of is fantastic. I am pretty tired, but it's all worth it. Mission is great.

Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk

Border of My Sanity

Alright so this week was nuts.

Monday was pretty great I totally botched trying to dunk on a basketball hoop and broke a chair in the process. I guess it was pretty cool. Mostly just chilled and played some basketball. Nothing to crazy..

Tuesday was the start of the long week. We went to breakfast with Sister Haight and Sister Staker as kinda a last goodbye or whatever and then the craziness started. We had to go to U.C. to get some parts for some bikes and so naturally we ended up with the Elders over there and going to lunch. We went to this Mongolian grill where you get all the raw ingredients and make whatever you want. We wrecked that place. We got our plates, so so so high. I ate leftovers all week... Food storage.

Wednesday we did the border run. Here we go.

So we are supposed to leave at 9 so that we could get done at a reasonable time before we have to go to bed and stuff. but the AP's forgot to tell a sister that she was going down there so she had to go and pack. 2 hours late we finally got started on the road and stuff. Man oh man. Then after about 15 minutes down the highway we realized that we didn't have a gas card to fill up... So back to Stone Oak we went, only to have the AP's tell us that we can just use the other missionary's gas cards. Whatever. So we are already about 2 and half hours behind what we should be.. About an hour into the drive Elder Bay got pulled over going 16 over the speed limit and got a ticket. So... 3 hours behind schedule, plus we are going the exact speed limit now. We dropped off Elder Dayton and picked up an Elder and a Sister. Then drove another couple of hours to the next stop. Seriously the sister complained the entire time... We drove all the way until 7pm down to the border of Mexico. We were technically supposed to be in Stone Oak, (Middle of San Antonio) at 6pm. Psh. Yeah right. She kept complaining about being hungry and I snapped and told her if she didn't stop complaining I was going to give her something to complain about. Goodness.. So we stopped at Chili's to get some food. Worst service ever. 2 hours later we finally left.... so now it's 9pm. The Ap's have been calling us and telling us to get going. It was just pretty dumb. We got back to San Antonio at 1:30am to drop off some elders. Then Elder Bay and I had to go pick up the car at Sister Staker's old apartment and use it for transfers the next day. It was pretty cool to drive by myself. at 2am. 

By the time that all was said and done we got done at 3am. I didn't even change I just laid down in my clothes and fell asleep. Then I had to get up 2 hours later at 5:30 so that I could drive an Elder to the Spanish test in San Antonio. I ran on that sleep for like 2 whole days... My brain literally shut off I'm pretty sure at some points...

We knocked into an Investigator that came to church. She is sooo cool. We didn't teach her anything but she came anyway and had a super good time. We even got a shout out in Elder's Quorum. Pretty cool. They love me and Elder McCombs. The dinner calendar filled up 100% for the entire month! It was so sick. 

Elder McCombs is the bomb. I love the kid to death. I'm pretty sure that we were meant for each other. He totally shaved his legs a couple of days ago. Nuff said. 

Everything is great! I really don't have anything to complain about. Life is a bliss! 

Remember who you are and what He stands for! 

Elder Funk

Lessons I've learned as a Missionary

Well this week was pretty much as crazy as they get. 

Elder Low and I had a ton of little things to do this week, he had a ton of Dr. appts and stuff trying to figure out what was wrong with some of the stuff that he had going on. It was pretty nerve racking. But it all turned out well and he should be able to stay and finish out the mission. 

The Mission President's wife gave us some addresses to go to the Dr. Apparently she sent another one that I didn't see, so we drove out to the boonies to the closest address that I thought she gave us and it turned out it was like 50 miles away. Forever away! and then when we got there, it didn't even exist at all. Ridiculous. So we turned around and came back. Good golly. The other address I didn't see was literally right next to our apartment... I felt real dumb. 

After going to the Dr. there he told us that we had to go to get an ultrasound. Seriously? We went and got one. Goodness gracious it was awkward watching "The Young and Reckless" with 5 pregnant women in the waiting room while he was getting an ultrasound, so I went out and called people. Then in order to try and get over the whole dramatic scene we had to go to Chili's and get some food. It was really good.

Our Investigators are doing pretty well. We have a bunch of appointments and stuff set up for this week and even went back and caught Meg at home. We are trying really hard to help her get baptized. She came to church on Sunday and even brought a friend. She'll get there one day. 

We should also be picking up another Investigator from another area who committed to be baptized pretty soon. I'm super excited for the day when that happens. 

Wednesday we were supposed to have District Meeting but Elder Jones car died in the garage that they have and so me and him spent the entire day taking the battery out and trying to fix it. It took soooo long. We wasted pretty much that entire day doing that stuff. It was super long. 

Thursday we had District Meeting and I trained on the Atonement of Jesus Christ and how he views you. It was a fantastic District Meeting where we were able to share feeling and insights about the Savior Jesus Christ. It was interesting that you brought up the Bishop talking about sleeping through the Atonement, because that was also something that I talked about. It is a hard thing to comprehend how one man could change mankind. 

I think of Judas and the different path that he took. Jesus Christ knew the entire time that he was going to be betrayed and that must have hurt him so much to have been betrayed by his closest friend. He knows perfectly what it's like to have the ultimate loneliness and deal with the most bitter depression. 

Another insight that I had was with the Vinegar and Gall that was going to be given to him. I didn't understand this week that it was actually being given to him to relieve some of the pain and agony that he was going through in that moment. Incomprehensible to me was that he denied even a little bit of relief to understand what we are going through. I feel like sometimes when I am trying to overcome something that I am struggling with, I resort back to going to something that brings temporary relief. Kinda going back to the old self. Or using a crutch to get through something that is important for us to understand. Jesus Christ truly knew what it was like to go through the most excruciating change with no help and no relief. 

I love my savior Jesus Christ so much. He is my Lord and my King. I know at times that I fall short of what He expects, but it's ok, because he wants us to just get up and try again. He loves every single one of us so much. 

Remember who you are and what He stands for!

Elder Funk

Also. I am getting Elder McCombs as my new companion this week. I love that kid so, so, so much. It's going to be a sweet transfer. Just 3 more and I will be home!

End of July

Well Howdy family.
It was a pretty good week I guess in the life of a Funk. Not to Shabby.
We had a pretty good monday I pretty much owned at basketball again. It is Me vs Steggell vs Savon pretty much every game. everyone else is pretty terrible. It's pretty funny and entertaining. I love it. Because  I get to take all the shots... I try not to boast to much, but my basketball skills have increased exponentially.

We had an exchange on Friday with the Elders in leon valley. It was pretty cool and all I liked it alot. We had a car and literally no one was home at all. We knocked all afternoon and nothin. So we went back to the apartment to give Elder Steggell something and then went and had dinner. Yep the member bbq'ed so much for us it was fantastic.

After we got down with the night and stuff, the other missionary in the area called us and told us we were supposed to do a move in the morning. That would be great if I had taken more then pajama's and church clothes. I totally helped the guy move in Shorts a t shirt and my church shoes. I did my best but yeah it was ridiculous. I will send some pictures. The Sisters gave us a ride over there so it was super fun. I love most of the sisters in the mission haha.

I'll have to get them from them and then shoot you an email with the stuff in it.
That was for sure the best part of the week moving with the sisters. haha the guy made fun of me quite a bit. He told the sisters that they should be giving me a hard time. I told him my name was Paul and he should just call me Paul because I wasn't dressed at all for the calling I have haha. So then we basically all went by our first names. It was weird. I don't think he understood the whole missionary concept because he wasn't a member and I think he thought it was maybe some kind of weird double date. Whatever. He also gathered us at the end and told us how important it was for us to hold down the fort and stay conservative. Great... I almost wanted to go Liberal on him just for fun, but I just agreed with most of the stuff. Now I know what it feels like to be on the other side of truth. You can't say anything!

The Elder's we live had a baptism of a whole family. It was soooo sweet. The spirit was so strong. I got to interview the family and stuff and it was so amazing to see them come all the way around. Man I love baptisms, lots. They are fabulous.

Elder Steggell went AP yesterday so for about a week I have Elder Low back as my companion. It's pretty crazy. Basically we just butt heads so hard already but we love each other so it's all good. I think I just show my love by bashing with people sometimes. As long as someone knows that you love them I think that just about anything can go. :)

Church was interesting. We got asked to Teach Gospel Principles literally right as we were sitting down. The Gathering of Isreal! Great. This is the second time they have whipped out a crazy topic and asked us to teach them. The first time happened last year and I had to make up 45 minutes of stuff on the Abrahamic covenant. I really am going for not throwing the Elder's under the bus when I get home. It is pretty fun, but yeah. I don't know how much stuff they got out of it.

I got to go out with Savon this week. Side Note: He is ranked the number 15th best athlete in all of college sports right now. We talked about everything. Man it was a blast. I love, love, love going out with Savon. He is so cool. He told me that he thought I was going to get married within 6 months of getting home. I guess it's unavoidable mom.

Hmm... I really don't have to much else to tell yall about. We are all out of investigators right now. We are going to probably be doing a ton of finding this week. Actually who am I kidding? We do finding all week every week. So we are going to do the same thing we have been doing.
Well. Thanks for all the support and everything. I'm pretty pumped to get out and going and find someone else to baptize! Oh I found out Kurt got baptized in Seguin. Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk

74th Epistle of Paul....

It was a pretty chill week. Or not. So an event to start off this Email of the 74th Epistle of Paul, basically affected the rest of the week.
We had a crazy lightning storm on Thursday that totally wrecked our house. It was hitting so close it was just basically destroying our sleep and rattling all of the windows. It was nuts.
So we woke up the next day and our AC didn't work. We didn't really notice to much but man when we got back at the end of the night it was sooo hot. I think inside the apartment was something like 95 degrees. All of us stripped down and just sweated through that night. It was pretty rough. We have been at each other's nerves and throats for a couple of days now because none of us had slept for a couple of nights.
Then we finally decided to move in with other Elder's. Actually it's Eric Jones from Skyview so we went over there a couple of nights ago and slept it was so nice. We went back over there last night and guess what? Their AC had broken too... It was another long night. We took all the mattresses off and put them downstairs and sweated through the night again. Hopefully the apartment fixes them soon.
We did have a baptism this week. George got baptized! He is a bit of a different fellow but he is chill enough. I like him alot. He got into an argument with a member about the Chupacabra, the member said that he was going to punch him in the face if he didn't stop talking. George was totally right though, so eventually the member had to apologize and stuff. It all worked out ok, but it's always crazy the week before the baptism.
I got to play the viola at the baptism too with Eric Cavazos. He is soo good. We nailed it too. It went so, so well. The spirit was really strong and it was such a beautiful arrangement. It was nice to get to use my talents again after the ban of musical instruments.
We also sang in church on Sunday which went really well too. We did Brightly Beams our father's mercy. It was fantastic.
I really can't think of too many other crazy things or stuff that was out of the ordinary that happened this week... The other Elders in the apt have been working on trying to master controlling their dreams so that they can fly and stuff. I don't really know... People are pretty crazy, but then again I do take cold showers and stuff. I can't tell you how good the cold shower feels when you have no AC.
I had Taco Bell probably 5 times this week. It is so good. If any of y'all are having a bad day go get a Loaded Griller. It always makes it better.
I don't know if I have had any real interesting insights this week. We had Zone meeting which was really good I guess. Elder Steggell asked me to give a few insights about bringing friends not fellowshippers to lessons. Man it drives me nuts when people are only doing home teaching or something because they are 'assigned to be their friend' when in all actuality they are all our friends and we are given the chance to watch over them. That is the mentality that I want to take into my life after the mission. It really is true that no one cares how much  you know til they know how much you care. I really do love the mission. It's fantastic.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk

Eric Cavazos and Elder Funk

Another Week In Paradise

Well Man. I really think the weeks come faster and faster. I can't believe I am sitting at this computer again. Really nothing is coming to mind right now of what I should say.
P day was pretty epic. I tried to rainbow a basketball and totally ate it hard on my face in front of everyone. I guess that is kinda my job as the "Zone President", to make everyone laugh, but it shouldn't have to come at my expense sometimes.. It was pretty fun. I also got elbowed in the nuts by the same sister. Just a series of unfortunate events.
Tuesday we had Zone conference, which was really fantastic! They talked a bunch about different aspects of success and they revamped the whole key indicator counting so now they can get a more accurate count of everything instead of us just trying to put up a crazy amount of numbers. I like it alot.
Meg is doing ok, from what we hear, she started smoking weed again so she doesn't want to be taught for awhile. She was really so, so, so close. I'm sure that one day she will get all the way there and get baptized but as for now, not so much.
Joseph our other investigator is doing really great, he came to church again and loved it. He is on the campaign committee for this lady, Wendy Davis that is running for Governor of Texas so he has been pretty busy but I love the guy to death. He is super cool. He doesn't think that he will be baptized for at least a year, but he just doesn't know that he knows it's all true.
Austin came to church for the second time since I have been here. We had a member who gave a talk so he invited him. I haven't heard a better talk since I have been in the mission, I don't know if I have ever heard a better talk since I have been a member! It was so great. He even threw in a Mickey Mantle reference to boot. Fantastic.
George is getting baptized on Saturday and we sorta had to pass him off to the Sister's again, except not really. I really don't even know what is going on half of the time. It seems like a ton of drama and so many problems, especially because we are crossing stake lines trying to work this whole thing out. We presented what we wanted to do for the baptism to the Ward Council yesterday and I'm pretty sure they think we are idiots sometimes haha but they love us alot. I have been really blessed to get along with Ward Council's for quite a while now. So I'll let you know how that turns out. Not really sure what is going to go down for sure. All I know is that I got my hands on a Viola and am doing a musical number for the baptism with Erik.
Speaking of Erik. He is a music teacher and has totally inspired me to a teacher when I get home. He got me all the audition requirements for USU, what private teacher I should get, he called his friend who went to USU a couple years ago to get the low down on the staff and really has been trying to encourage me to do it. I think it would be fantastic, I guess I just have to decide pretty soon. Life decisions... Good golly.
So I showed up to Institute on Wednesday and saw a couple of girls that I knew from the F Burg a year ago. Unreal. One of them went on her mission and came home, she had to come home early for medical stuff, but still. I watched her go and come back and I am still doing the same thing. Man, oh man. It was super fun to reminisce and talk about people that I used to know.
We also went to the temple this week and the lady told us the session was at 12:30pm, we showed up at 11:56 and yep, it totally started at 12. The temple presidency wasn't to happy about the whole thing. I felt pretty bad and then he pulled us aside after the session and told us that we should be encouraging all the missionary's to bring their own clothes to cut down on the laundry. Luckily you can't feel to bad in the temple, but goodness we messed that trip up.
We got to knock tons of doors this week. That's probably my favorite thing to do, just because you never know what you are going to get and talking to people is the best. It's a challenge to get them to like you and then get them to hear your message. I love it a bunch. We actually have a ton of return appointments and a couple of new investigators from it. Pretty cool.
So Elder Vega and I had a heart to heart last night just about life and especially about sacrifice in particular. We were talking about Girls, games, and good memories. Ya know, the most important things in the pre-mission life. As we talked I realized that we didn't get those things taken away from us but that we gave them away from us. It's pretty obvious, but the difference is incredible. I think alot of times I have questioned God and said, "Why in the world, when I am serving you, when We are serving you, do missionary's lose things we had already 'won'?" With anything the principle applies. But really it is only because we chose not to have it. It's not like we really lose anything when we go on a mission, it's all about that fact that you gave up what you had. I said in essence on December 12, 2012, "Well God, I have a pretty good life going for me, I got friends, family, a job I like, money, my momma's car, dates, food, music, sports, sportscenter, music, sleep, I get to read the newspaper, TV, Music. I have everything that I have ever put together for myself. Well I guess now is the time that I get to put it all away. I'm going to give it all to you."
Then when I came in the mission, I think when any missionary comes into the mission, we think. "Oh I have it made! I got this, and this, and this, waiting for me when I get home! I have it all!" Then the tough part comes when you realize that the things you had, were the things that you have chosen to give up to serve the Lord.
There really is nothing like serving a mission. It's so tough, but it's so rewarding. I'm looking at having about 20 weeks left to serve. That's nothin'. Nothin at all. I really am going to miss it. I hope that everyone takes the opportunity to give up what you have and go serve a mission. There will be days when you regret it for sure. Haha that is a weird promise, but a sure one.  I still want to go sit in the car with some skinny jeans, converse shoes and blast some beastie boys driving down the street with the windows down. But even when those days come when you don't want to do what you need to do, It is always worth it in the end. I understand now that what we choose to give up is equal to the person to who we become! I love the Lord. I love him so much.
Remember who you are and what He stands for!
Elder Funk