email | September 3, 2013

2 MONTH BIRTHDAY!!

So today is my 2 month Birthday!  I've been on a mission for the past two months which means that my mission is 8.33% complete.  I can't believe I'm already so far finished.  I know that it seems like 8 percent isn't that much but at the same time it does.  

Well, since the last email a lot has happened.  Last time I said that I am staying in the 12th Ward, which is scary since it's so small and not a lot of active work going. So we've been praying to be kept busy each day.  And here is the result of our prayers:

Wednesday:  We had 2 hours of emailing and then another two hours of staining a deck.  With our leftover time we did another hour of studying, dinner and setting up appointments.

Thursday:  We have weekly planning (which takes 3 hours) so that takes up a bunch of time, plus we met with our Relief Society president to discuss how we can best help them.  then we had dinner at a member's home which was very interesting.  It is a couple with grown up kids, but their son and daughter-in-law are living there while waiting to find a house.  The people in our ward (the parents) realized that they couldn't be there for dinner, so they just had their daughter-in-law feed us (her husband, the son, would be at work).  But since we can't be in the house alone with a female, they invited their other son-in-law to be the adult male.  He is a non-member and didn't want any sort of religious discussion from us.  Then, the son showed up early and was at dinner, so the non-member didn't even need to be there.  In the end, it was a very interesting and hectic night.

Friday:  We had a Zone Goal Setting Meeting which took 2 hours.  Then we went to help a member sand the old paint off his fence and shed and helped him put on the first coat on the fence.  That took like 3 hours

Saturday:  We helped a family load up a trailer to move then, while the people were gone, the wife, us, another set of Elders, and a set of Sisters stayed to clean and do some repairs.  (Thanks Dad for teaching me to use all sorts of tools because they needed a "handyman" and I was the qualified one that did most of that kind of work). Then we had lunch and quickly went to go help our bishop's daughter move.  Then we went back to the first family and helped load up the second trailer load.  So lots of service that day.  Plus we met with our investigator.  More on that to come.
Sunday:  Fairly normal, with one exception.  A Less Active in the ward texted us and asked if we could come over that night.  He then texted "We need an exorcism, lol". Naturally we were confused and a little worried, so we talked to the Bishop and got some advice.  Afterwards, we called the LA and asked what exactly they wanted.  As it turns out, they just wanted a blessing to be safe on their vacation and wanted help with an audition he had for a movie the next day.  The exorcism thing was a joke, thankfully.  After that call we met with our investigator.  Then we went and explained to the LA that what he wanted wasn't really a blessing but more of family prayer thing.  So we prayed with them and they appreciated it.  

So, as you can see, we were kept very busy.  God really does answer our prayers and will help you in so many ways, some of which you may not have expected.

I guess the last thing is to update you on our investigator, or rather our promising investigator.  So his name is Randy and he is a trucker.  He knows he needs to be baptized but has a lot of lame excuses (his words, not ours).  We found out that he actually watches General Conference on his own and wants to get an Ensign subscription.  But several things are holding him back.  His parents are a main factor.  While we were talking to him on Saturday, his parents were present and it took him 15 minutes to commit to come meet a member with us.  They make him nervous since the Dad is super inactive and the Mom is Atheist.  But on Sunday, the parents weren't home and he was a lot more open.  Which brings us to the second, bigger issue, his work schedule.  He works 7 days on, 3 days off, 7 days on, 4 days off, and repeat.  This works out to mean he's only in town every third Sunday.  and since he has to go to church at least twice before he can get baptized, we are looking at a minimum of 6 weeks before a baptism.  It sucks, but he's awesome and we are going to work with him as much as possible when he's back in town.  

I think that that is all for the week.  Thanks for all the emails and stuff.

I love you all and hope you have a great week!!

Love,

Elder Wake