Diarrhea Days

 

Editor's Note: Why would you eat this if you were sick?

May 20, 2015

         Today was good despite the fact that we started out lazy with me still feeling the after effects of yesterday’s illness, namely my stomach was more tangled than Disney.  The most eventful part of the day was going to a fast food joint and ordering a half meter hot dog.  Though it was delicious, it definitely was not a wise choice for an upset stomach. 

Miracle #239: The whole V. family participated in our lesson, even the disinterested son.

         The funny part of the day was when we walked into the V. home and the father had the tv on.  A fighting movie was on and I was struggling not to watch it, but like any good missionary, I asked the hermano if he could turn off the tv, to which he replied, “No!”  Soooo what could we do, we waited for 10 minutes for the movie to end and for he wife to get home.

May 21, 2015

         Today we barely worked in missionary work because 90% of the day went into preparing for the ward activity/dessert competition.  We cleaned the church, had a great lunch, planned for our week, visited 1 person, and went to finish work on the activity.  This was the first ward activity in over 6 months and it was awesome!  We had so many people (around 60 – which is close to our Sunday attendance) come and enjoy themselves.   We had 13 people bring desserts!

Miracle #240: Despite the fact that the judges (our mission president) were against us, we got 5^th place.  We had the best tasting dessert – but it was so ugly that we only got 5^th.  

The funniest part of today was in the morning when I got up. My stomach cramps returned and lets just sum it up by saying I experienced a missionary right of passage In the CCM they tell you that to be a real missionary, you have to:

1.   be bit by a dog

2.   get food poisoning

3.   get a kiss (on the cheek I assume)

4.   have a girl chase after you

5.   poop your pants.

I am only missing #4 now.

May 22, 2015

         Well it was another day of diarrhea.  Like a LOT.  I spent at least 3 hours in the bathroom today, but at least I got all of my reading done!  War chapters of the Book of Mormon go well with gastroenteritis.

Miracle #241: Despite explosively destroying bathrooms, we still worked hard and got 3 lessons taught and 2 divisions done. We found an amazing family today that I have super high hopes for.  

         The funny part of the day just has to do mostly with the inadvertent noises of the day.  Ughhh, it was a long day and I suppose it will also be a long night.

May 23, 2015

         Today was GREAT!  This morning I woke up with another horrible stomach ache, so I couldn’t do any exercise, but the pain wore off by the time we had to leave for work.  The best part of the day was doing divisions in our sector.  The most fun part was that everyone who took part switched comps for the 2 ½ hours of the activity.  I got someone from Paraguay and we were on a role!  We met tons of future investigators and 3 appointments from the activity.  I am so excited again!

My astonishment at seeing my camera!

Miracle #242: After 2 weeks without my camera, I finally got it back!  The zone leaders finally found it under one of their beds!!

May 24, 2015

         Today was good but not stellar.  Church was alright and a fair number of people came.  We planned a mutual activity this Friday where I am going to teach first aid.  The reception from the young men was less than encouraging.  They complained about the activity not being fun enough.  I explained that we should be learning something AND enjoying ourselves in mutual. I suppose that I will have to be ready to make first aid really fun somehow.  I have a few ideas.

Miracle #243: As we prepared for a lesson, we found a scripture that we both felt would perfectly meet the needs of the people we planned to teach.  Then the appointment fell through.  As it turned out, someone else asked us a question that was perfectly answered by that same scripture.

         The funny part of the day was when we were given a candle used for black magic rituals…creepy, but it is just a regular candle.

our sweet white board set up

May 25, 2015

         Today was a full day of work.  It was pretty decent to boot.  We had a lesson with J., a man that we found contacting a couple of weeks ago.  He accepted the baptismal invitation if he gets his answer from God that the gospel is true.  I know that if he reads and makes a sincere effort to ask in prayer, he will get his answer.  I have learned one thing for certain on my mission, that is that if people do their part, the Lord always follows through with his part.  I really love this investigator and I can see so much potential in him for his future. 

         The rest of the day we contacted lots of people and had an overall good time even thought the people were generally not receptive to our message.  I am very well adjusted to rejection.

Miracle #244: We were able to work for a full day for the first time in over a week.

         It’s really been hard to be sick all week long, but now I am feeling better. The funny part of the day was just messing around with a bunch of park exercise equipment, kind-of like my Eagle Scout project.  Elder White and I went on a circuit in the middle of the day in proselyting clothes.  It was a rather fun break.

May 26, 2015

         We had a good day today.  We accidentally slept in for an extra half hour because our phone alarms didn’t go off.  It actually was the right time to get up, but we like to get up early so that we can fit more exercise in. I really didn’t realize how much I treasure that extra time until today.  I love the studies in peace and quiet in the morning and the extra exercise time a little later.  Anyway, after the morning stuff, we went to district meeting where we talked about our president’s weekly newsletter message about memorizing scriptures.  I was super grateful that I had a prompting about 6 months ago to work on memorizing scriptures in Spanish.  I now have over 25 scriptures one and I am still working hard.  I have found it very interesting that a lot of times, I will be thinking about a principle of missionary work several weeks before a message from the president comes out that teaches the same thing that I have had on my mind.

Miracle #245: Missionary correlation meeting got cancelled today! That meeting is usually a weekly personal battle to keep my head down and my mouth shut.

         I am kind of starting to worry about this next transfer cycle.  Elder White thinks that I will be given some sort of responsibility, but I am feeling like I really enjoy the work right now and don’t want to change a thing. Oh, well, it is not worth worrying about cause I have no control over it.

Our missionary attempt at sushi (not bad).

Another good week despite the flu

May 13, 2015

         This p-day was pretty relaxed.  We woke up and just studied and chilled. We went to the church so Elder Skabelund, an elder with a full ride scholarship in volleyball at BYU, could practice some moves during his last 12 weeks of his mission.  He is insanely good at volleyball!  He is 6’11” and destructive on the front line.  We had a great time just playing 2 on 2 for an hour (and I don’t even like volleyball.)

Miracle #232: Somehow I miraculously learned (without practicing) how to throw a perfect spiral with the football. I have never been able to do it until today!

         Once again there wasn’t any funny part of the day today, but we did have a good meeting to finish our planning for the youth of the ward.  I haven’t felt well today – flu sore and tired.  It was probably a bad idea to exercise today. Actually, I guess it was pretty funny when Elder Skabelund kept spiking the ball and hitting the ceiling or nailing my companion in the head.

May 14, 2015

         Today we went to a super lame service project where we worked FOR a member of our ward.  He didn’t even help us to the work that he wanted us to do.  He just did his job in the corner of his house while we worked.  Then he complained about the quality of our work.  He acted super entitled and it really irritated me.  While our work was not the best on the plane, it was a lot better than the shoddy Chilean cheap labor that he would have paid for.

Miracle #233: We found 2 people who we had met before and befriended but never knew where they lived. It was a cool experience because we were each able to connect with one person and feel prompted to share a message which they accepted.

         The funny part of the day was just talking with Elder White.  He makes fun of me in a way that I know he is my friend and I can do the same back at him.

I have worn through four pairs of pants this way!

May 15, 2015

         Today was a boringish but fairly productive day.  We planned, had a lesson, then went to a combined missionary tracting. The wussy missionaries form the sector gave us the most ghetto blocks and we had a blast.  I felt like I was back in my old sectors and I missed the kind of teaching and contacts that you get to do in the ghetto.

Miracle #234: We got a less active’s teenaged daughter to participate in a great lesson about charity with the Familia Ruiz Aceval.

         The fun part of the day was making sopapillas in the evening.  They turned out soooo good, but they are soooo bad for you. Still very delicious!

May 16, 2015

         Ugh. Today was…interesting.  We went to visit M.M.’s family and were excited about the visit going in, but then as the visit progressed we learned that one of the family members is a Jehovah’s Witness who was very confrontational and argumentative.  He basically said, “You’re and idiot and you’re wrong.” Somehow I managed to maintain my composure throughout the whole lesson despite the fact that he constantly tore us down.  In the end, Elder White and I bore our testimonies of the prophets and left.

Miracle #235: Elder White and I maintained our cool in an impossibly confrontational lesson.

         We had a sweet part of the day where we talked to a man who came to our English class to practice his English.  He is very fluent and is studying at the university.  I think that he helped me more with my Spanish than I did with his English. 

Our English Class

May 17, 2015

         Today was a good end to our week. We started off with ward council meeting (the second one in three months) and kept it going with a good church attendance.  We had a decent lunch and then we went out to work.  We visited a few people, but the miracle wasn’t food or a lesson, it was our recent convert, B.

Miracle #236: We were FINALLY able to get together with B. and leave to visit some people with him.  It has been about a month since we met with him which is bad because he needs the support.

May 18, 2015

         Today was pretty entertaining.  We started the day with working on preparations for a ward activity that is coming up this Thursday.  It was my idea to do a dessert competition and the ward loved the idea.  So, about a month ago, we started planning for the activity, which is called “Master Pastries”.  We even managed to get our mission president to agree to come and be one of our judges.  We decided that if the president was partial to anyone it would be against his missionaries.

Miracle #237: All the plans are set and the activity is ready to go.

         The fun part of the day was going on divisions with Elder Hanni and Elder Chavez.  I went with Elder Hanni today and I have to say that he really grew on me.  We had a good time just talking and walking.  We walked a LOT today, like ALL day. The only exceptions were some contacts we did.  It was a good day overall. 

         On the downside, I am really ticked that the ZL’s haven’t looked for the camera that I left in their house 2 weeks ago.  I know that it is my fault, but I will hate having to buy another camera. (Editor’s note:  WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY BOYS AND LOOSING THEIR CAMERA’S????)

May 19. 2015

         Today started out really well with interviews with President Cook.  They sure went a lot better than the last interview I had.  He was more encouraging this time around.  I felt a lot better about who I am becoming after my interview.  Then we had our district meeting and I gradually started feeling physically sick until by the end of the meeting, I had a high fever and I had to go home and go to bed.  I had massive chills for a couple of hours and I wasn’t able to get up and function until about 6 P.M. 

Miracle #238:  We randomly found a relative of one of he strongest members of our ward who is interested in taking the lessons. Also, I didn’t even get a tiny bit irritated in missionary correlation meeting.

         There were a few funny things that happened today.  One was this guy just hanging out on the street smoking crack from his homemade bong.  Another was a lady telling us that it is better to help a stray dog than it is to help a person. What? I have always been a dog lover except now that I live here in Chile, the stray overpopulation is so annoying that I am starting to hate them and their poop. What really sickens me is that people will feed the stray dogs, but let the poor and needy people go hungry.

Plumbing Problems

May 6, 2015

         Today was a short p-day, but it was also quite fun. We went to a mall to buy things that we needed, and had a good time running into missionaries of Santiago Sur.  We didn’t really find what we were looking for, but we went to a giant gringo supermarket called “Jumbo”.  The have everything that you would find in a Walmart.  My miracle/blessing was from that wonderful wonderful store.

Miracle # 225: I once more was able to partake of the Ichor of the gods (aka Dr. Pepper.) A can costs over a dollar here, but it was so worth it.

This brought me happy thoughts about my dear mother.

         Sadly our p-day ended early with a service project.  Not so sadly, the service turned out to be the most fun part of our day.  Basically we helped a lady put on a dinner for old ladies for Mother’s Day.  We ran around giving stuff out to the women, but we actually were entertained in the process.  We got to listen to Frank Sinatra-like singers, and a mariachi band.  There were jugglers and clowns and all kinds of fun stuff.  I tried working hard while making the people that I was serving laugh and have a good time.  I have discovered that I love to brighten people’s days with a smile, a joke, or just being nice. I also learned that I am more restless on a mission…I have to be doing something or I get pretty bored.

 May 7, 2015

         Today was a great division with the zone leaders.  I left the sector and realized just how hard my sector really is.  As we contacted in the other sector, we entered into houses, took out appointments, and found very good people to teach.

Miracle #226: We started a contact with a grumpy old man.  As we offered to help him, then followed through with our offer, this man started to open up. In the end, his son came out and turned out to be really interested in our message.  We gave him a Book of Mormon and he promised to read it.

         The funny part of today was the fact that our Zone leaders didn’t have anything planned to do for tomorrow, but by the end of the day, we filled up their schedule for tomorrow with future investigators.  Also we ate some tasty tacos!

Happy Birthday Elder Chavez!

May 8, 2015

         Today was pretty great.  We actually found some people to hopefully teach.  The division yesterday really gave me a boost for this week and hopefully longer.  Today I talked with EVERYONE in the streets.  Today was also Elder Chavez’s birthday so I gave him a belt of mine that he has always wanted.  We also got cake and a good dinner that was nice.

Miracle #227: We found a good 5 potential investigators today!

Our usual number is zero.

         The funny/horrible part of our day was our toilet disaster.  Our toilet spits everything that you put in it out onto the floor.  Right now my companion is taking it apart to try to fix it.  I think that I am going to have to dig an emergency hole in the backyard if you know what I mean. 

May 9, 2015

         Today was actually good.  Three good/great days in a row is practically a record.  This morning our toilet still didn’t work and I had to beg the use of our neighbor’s bathroom.  We also painted someone’s fence this morning.  Elder White and I jus talked and painted for a couple of hours and it was fun.  When we came back to the house we learned that our toilet would not be fixed until Monday! We are considering making one of our flowerpots a chamberpot.

Miracle #228: We were walking through the feria when we ran into M.’s son.  We told him that we visited his dad and then he invited us back for tomorrow to share our message with the other part of their family.

         The funny part of today was in our last lesson, the family commented that they liked my companions ties more than my tie.  I pretended to be scandalized and offended.  After that, they chose me to say the closing prayer and I prayed that they would be blessed to see that my tie was wonderful.  They all lost it…but then of course I got serious and offered a sincere prayer to finish the evening.  It was fun.

May 10, 2015

         Today was really lazy.  After church we went straight to a member’s house to Skype home for Mother’s day.  I had a great call with my family where I realized just how cushy I have it here on my mission (compared to my brother.) I seriously cannot complain at all. My mission is amazing and I am learning a ton.  I really feel like I am becoming more and more converted to the gospel every day.

Miracle #229:  I pulled of a musical number today that I learned in about 2 hours of practice and it actually turned out really well.

         He funny part of today was how much cake we got to eat!  Seriously, I must have eaten ½ of a cake today.  It is okay though since yesterday I was fasting.  Seriously, fasting is really rough for me.  I always get a little grumpy when I do it.  I already got one of my answers that I fasted for!

May 11, 2015

         Today was a really decent day.  The only hard part of the day was when I realized that I couldn’t shower after exercising because the plumbers where working to unplug the pipes.  It seems that the other Elder’s like to use wipes instead of toilet paper, and the wipes plug up the pipes.  It took them 5 hour to unplug the clog and we were helping them the entire time.

Miracle #230: We finally have a working bathroom again!

         The best part of the day was finding an awesome person and teaching him a lesson.  We were walking along and my companion stopped to knock a door.  No one was there, but we stopped at the next house and met J.M.  I think that he is by far the most incredible person that I have met here in Chile.

         The funny part of the day was making poop jokes with the plumbers and the owner of the house we live in.  The owner reminds me of my Mom.  Overall, today was a good day. 

May 12, 2015

         Today was the first day in a long time that was depressing.  Most of the day was spent visiting a man who is dying of cancer.  He is suffering and just wants to die.  His family knows that there is nothing left that can be done to help him live longer, but they don’t want to tell him the truth.  It was really a sad situation and it made me reflect on home and brought me down the rest of the day.

Miracle #231: As we came back, I felt prompted to do an unusually direct contact.  I was really surprised when it worked and the lady made an appointment with us.

         There wasn’t really any fun part of the day, but we did get lots done and ended our day playing a game.  Tomorrow is p-day so we should be able to get some needed rest. The best part of the day was probably doing a brand new insanity video that I don’t have.  It is a leg heavy workout and my butt hurts.

Contacting Kings

April 29, 2015

         Today was not really a restful p-day.  We went to the temple way too early because Elder White wanted to go and hang out with his mission buddies who I don’t know.  This wouldn’t really bother me except for the fact that I don’t give a rip about socializing just for the sake of hanging out.  The temple was nice, as usual.  Afterwards, my comp wanted to the giant “American” mall and just look at stuff.  I agreed to go and then I remembered how much I hate shopping.  We got home with barely enough time to take a tiny nap and read a tiny bit.

Cinnabun...yum!

Miracle #218: I still had fun doing something that I really hate doing because I was just chilling with 2 other latino missionaries who don’t like to shop either.

         The funny part of the day was going on divisions with the bishop.  He gave me a CD of imagine dragons concerts because he knows how much I love them.  But he also knows that I am not supposed to listen to them, so he made me a disc with classical music that I can listen to now. 

April 30, 215

         Today was a little rough.  I had a rough time keeping up my enthusiasm.  It was also a really boring day.  The worst part was that our appointments fell through when we had a member present. Then all of our most solid plan B’s fell through and we began to be a little desperate to find some success to take this member kid to.  After an hour and a half, we finally were able to visit someone.  This fun/disturbing part of the division was when we got to hear about how disobedient the missionaries were before our mission was formed.  I still get blown out of the water with the sories! For example, just for “fun” one missionary here broke a stick by smacking a drunk man in the neck, and at the same time he broke the guy’s neck and almost killed him.  The worst part was that E. (the kid who was working with us today) was with that missionary when it happened. 

Miracle #219: E. still has a testimony and a desire to serve a mission despite being with the WORST examples of missionaries of all time.

         The Santiago South Mission was part of the former Rancagua mission and it was the area where all of the problem missionaries were sent.  Our mission is still trying to recover from the horrible reputation that developed before the splits in the mission.  Ironically, the worst area of Chile was assigned the very best mission president to help turn it around.

Elder White's new hair sytle.

May 1, 2015

         Today was an interesting day.  I thought we were going to work really hard and be efficient because we left early and worked hard until lunch.  Then, when we got to lunch, the Hermana preparing it hadn’t even started.  We just sat around in her house for 2 hours. It was the WORST!  The rough part of this sector is that we don’t find that many people to teach.  The other elders do, but I don’t know why we haven’t been about to find anyone. 

Miracle #220: We studied the language this morning!!!

         There wasn’t a fun part of the day today.  We had to leave one of our few investigators today because he doesn’t follow through with anything that we ask him to do.

May2, 2015

         Today was another one of the downs on this roller coaster f a mission.  Practically all ofour appointments fell through and we ended up walking around and contacting for around 4-5 hours.  Well if you include the feria contacts, it was closer to 8 hours of contacting today.  I am not sure if today will bring too many fruits, but at least I survived while working my hardest.  The real bummer of the day was getting ticked at my comp for the very first time in our companionship.  He called me out for not knowing a lesson that we never planned on teaching.  Honestly, I don’t think that it is a good idea to throw your comp under the bus especially in front of members.  Actually, I don’t think it is right to do that to anyone.

Miracle #221: Wow, miracles are getting harder to find, and I am starting to have repeats.  A really great thing that happened to today was when Elder Hanni had the insanity videos on USB, which means that the fact that my cds are getting scratched won’t matter.

         The funny part of the day was when we were doing the feria contacts and I started contacting a lady.  I basically just introduced her to Elder Chavez and walked away.  He somehow managed to take out a reference and make an appointment with her!  TEAMWORK!

May 3, 2015

         Today was the WORST Sunday ever.  As usual, it included me trying to not fall asleep in sacrament meeting (I was not successful). The rest of the meetings were the usual long boring lectures about pointless topics, followed by looking for people who didn’t want to be found.  We did get to eat a delicious lunch and then we went to visit M. in the hospital.  He was very discouraged today because he has been so bored sitting in the hospital for the past 4 weeks.  This hospital is so ghetto that it doesn’t have anything for the patients to do as a distraction.

Miracle #222:  We found a members house where we can skype our families on mother’s day!

         Well there were a few funny things today.  One was meeting a Chilean version of my oldest sister.  She looked, acted, and thought very similarly to Bailey.  I had the advantage over my companion in that conversation.  The other funny part of the day was this ancient guy who was watching us as we were looking for someone and calling for them.  He yelled that they weren’t there (Chileans try to protect their neighbors from the Mormons.) We we ignored him, he flipped his lid and started shouting Spanish profanities at us.  He called us many HORRIBLE things and said we were so stupid that we couldn’t even understand what he was saying.  I surprised him when I answered that I understood enough to know that he was totally inappropriate. 

         Another thing that happened today was when we were passing by a young couple in a park and the guy was yelling at his girl.  Things were getting heated and I was getting ready to step in to stop this guy.  Just as I was about to say something, the guy hit her.  I immediately jumped in ad told him that you never treat a woman like that.  He actually calmed down and as I was walking away, one of the old men who were watching gave me a thumbs up.  It was not really a fun experience, but I felt good about how I handled it.

May 4, 2015

         Today was really interesting.  We are really struggling to find people to teach even thought we are working very hard.  Not sure what to mention about today.  We took a tie as a birthday present to a ward member.  He was so grateful that it made us happy that we did it.  This man is probably one of the happiest guys that I have met in Chile.

Miracle #223: The birthday man’s family bought us pizza just to say thank you for coming to wish him a happy birthday.

         The funny part of the day was when I asked this family what their family name was and they told me a different name than the one that I wrote in the tie.  I got a little flustered and was worried that I screwed things up, but then they finally told us that they were just teasing us.

May 5, 2015

         Today was really unpleasant.  We were in pee-scented houses for 2 of our appointments.  The first when our entire zone worked in a specific sector for 3 hours contacting every single house in the sector.  The other house was in the house of a very sick old man.

Miracle #224: I found badly needed new pants – 4 pairs for 11 dollars!

         The funny part of the day was teaching a very drunk man.  He was so drunk that he asked my comp. to pour him a beer.  Well, Elder W. poured him a glass of water which made him very mad.  Then Elder W. poured him a glass of beer colored soda which the man gratefully accepted and chugged down. He was so drunk that he couldn’t tell the difference between soda and beer. We realized that the guy wasn’t going to remember anything that we taught him, but he did have some cookies set out and we helped ourselves to a half of a sleeve.  That was about the most successful part of our day.        

My Prayers are Answered

April 22, 2015
         Today was a fun –day with Elder White.  We just wandered around downtown Santiago and as we wandered, we talked and I realized that I really consider Elder White a friend.  To be honest, I think that he is the first real friend that I have found in the mission.  There were 2 half miracles that happened today that if you add together would make one full miracle.  

Miracles 210.5 and 211: Elder White and I found a SUBWAY and also found some postcards both of which I have been searching for.

         Well today we also went to a funeral (my first) and when people started talking amongst themselves after the service, they began to hug and cry.  We found ourselves in the middle of this awkward situation, which for me wasn’t all that awkward since I am a huggy kind of a person.  (guilt free funeral hugs)

April 23, 2015

         Today was really rough. It was a long day of contacting in the streets with lots of rejection.  The most productive part of today was helping Elder White edit and spice up his entrance essays for BYU.  We finally got them finished and sent off.  I was also able to print off a list of Chilean idioms that I can learn.

Miracle #212: I finished the Book of Mormon in Spanish today! 

         The funny part of the day was when we were editing the paper and we kept finding part where Elder White’s Spanish came through in his writing.  I just laughed and told him that it was lucky that he had a gringo comp who hadn’t been in the mission long enough to forget his English. We laughed a ton today.

April 24, 2015

         Today was good but only for couple of reasons. One of the thing is that I am now learning how to write cursive which is something that I refused to learn when I was home schooled despite my mother’s best efforts.  Another thing is that Elder White got to teach violin lessons to a member today.   We had 2 bad lessons today but 1 amazing  and miraculous one.

Miracle #213: A. was so sick that he can barely walk, but he promised us that no matter what, he is going to make it to church this week.

         The funny part of the day was the ridiculousness of my companion.  One time, for example, he offered to buy a bon-o-bon candy for a member.  When she jokingly accepted, he made me walk 4 blocks with him just to go and buy the dumb thing.  I love my comp!  The worst lesson of the day was right at the end of the day and left us both with a bad feeling.  We decided to read a chapter of the book of Mormon to help us put it behind us, and it worked!

April 25, 2015

         Today turned out to be pretty good even thought most of our appointments completely fell through.  The reason today turned out really well is because we got a list of members printed out and we have started going to all the houses on the list.   We have about 600 members in our ward, but only 80 active members come to church.  WOW!  We have some work to do.

Miracle #214: THE LIST!  We already have found 5 families who have marked appointments with us to come back and teach them.

         The funny part of the day was when Elder White and I were in a lesson and the guys son walked in the room with a very attractive girlfriend.  They, being very polite Chileans, greeted us with the customary Chilean kiss on the cheek.  I did my duty fending off the beautiful girlfriend by telling her that as missionaries we can’t greet people in that manner. 

April 26, 2015

         Well today was really mediocre.  The best part of the day was B.’s talk in church.  As a new member, he gave a great talk on listening to others.  He did a great job of making every member in our ward feel deeply about the neglectfulness towards investigators and new members.  Our ward is horrible at fellowshipping.  After B.’s talk everyone left with a new resolution to be better and help more. After church B. lest with us to visit a member and do some contacting.

Miracle #214:  B. had a rough week where he almost decided to leave the church, but then he found the strength to get refocused and is now stronger than ever.

Follow up on miracle #213: A. did actually come to church making it a true miracle!!! It was so great to see him there.

         There wasn’t anything especially funny today but most of the day we laugh and joke.  One of the things that I learned today was about some of the problem elders in our area a while back.  They did some really terrible things.  They used to have competitions to see who could kick the most dogs in a day, but it would only could if they kicked them hard enough to make them yelp.  There are other stories but I will save them for another day.

April 27, 2015

         Today was a decent day.  We started with morning contacts and then came home.  My ankle was strong enough that I am now able to do insanity again..WOOO HOOOO!!!!  After that we had a massive lunch. Seriously, this sister gave each of the missionaries 1 kilo of lasagna, tons of salad, bread, and 2 bananas.  For the first time in my mission I was not able to eat my entire lunch.  It was so good!

Miracle #216:  For the first time in 2 months, I was full and the real miracle was that even though all of our plans fell through, I still felt great at the end of the day because I wasn’t hungry!

         The funny part of the day was making a cat trap.  We have a stray cat in our backyard that always tears into our garbage. We really want to get rid of the cat so we are hoping to the trap will work.  Knowing the missionaries here, we will probably catch it then spray it with a little water and let it loose. 

April 28, 2105

         Today we had an awesome zone conference.  Basically I was just motivated to work harder and learn more about the gospel. I have heard about zone conferences where a mission president will yell at the missionaries, but our president doesn’t do that.  President Cook just loves us and treats us like a true representative of Christ.  Every zone conference there is a question and answer session at the end and my companion and I asked a few questions like: “How can we improve our fasts?” and “How can I really know and help  my investigators know if their prayers are sincere?”  The president gave us really helpful and practical answers.  He taught us to find a specific purpose for our fast and pray and focus on the purpose throughout the fast.  My miracle of the day came in answer to the question about sincere prayers.

Miracle # 217: El Presidente said “Elder Colvin, I can’t tell you when your prayers are sincere, but you know when they are.  But I can tell you that you should not worry because your Father is listening to you.” This was my miracle because this has been a huge doubt of mine for a while, and his answer brought a strong sense of peace to my soul and I know that it is true.

         The funny part of the day was when and insanely high person started talking to my companion while I was contacting someone else.  This crack head gradually stripped his layers off until he only had a tank-top on.  Then he proceeded to explain how he was no one and everyone at the same time.