email | October 15, 2013

Training!!!!

So as many of you know, I am now a trainer!!!  Basically this means that my new companion is fresh out of the Missionary Training Centre and I get to be his first companion and teach all that he needs to know to be a good, effective missionary.  I'll be honest, it is very overwhelming, especially since I just finished my own training!  It is the visually impaired leading the blind :) (I know, I'm super clever).  So about my companion...

His name is Elder Foster and he is from (drum roll please) DALLAS, TEXAS!!!!!  It's kinda super cool that they put us two Texans together.  However, he spent the last year in Bountiful, Utah doing his senior year (of high school) with his cousin, which is kinda cool because I spent the last year in Provo, doing my freshman year at BYU.  Neither one of us is totally inexperienced with the winter, but we are also totally unprepared.  It's getting really cold and he's at the disadvantage of not having the past month and a half to get accustomed to the weather.  I can handle it pretty well but he is freezing. He feels that he is not a good teacher and that he doesn't know stuff, but if I push him a tiny bit more than usual or wait a little longer for him to think about an answer, he actually is better than I was when I came out.  He just needs to realize that for himself and he will be a great missionary.  I keep telling him and I've already seen growth in his knowledge and confidence.  I have a really good feeling about these next 3 months.  

Well, mostly good feelings.  Transfers weren't all good news, because they took away our car.  Before you panic, we didn't do anything bad or against the rules.  They just figured that since our area was smaller and technically "walk-able" we didn't need a car.  I personally disagree because when we have back to back appointments we can't teach all that we need to.  We may have a small area but it still takes 20 minutes to walk across and that is 20 less minutes we have to teach sometimes.  Most of the time we are fine and have enough time but tonight for instance, will be very hard.  Hope isn't all lost, rumour is that there are 17 new cars sitting at church HQ and our District Leader is petitioning to get a couple cars sent down here for us. (They don't have a car either and neither does the Copperwood Ward Elders, and both of them actually need one because it takes an hour and a half or more to walk to some parts of their areas)  Honestly, the leadership made a mistake because only one car, ours, was supposed to lose their car and three were taken.  No one seems to know what happened, so they are taking it back to the drawing board and re-deciding who gets cars and who doesn't.  I'm praying that they have sympathy on us Texans and that they send us a car.

Speaking of "Rumours"  the newest rumour in the mission is that we will get to use Facebook and will get our iPad's this February.  I think that this is very likely for us.  The other rumour is that every missionary, not every companionship, will get an iPad and that each companionship will get an iPhone.  This is not very likely, I think, but all things are possible I guess.  I'm excited to know for certain when we get our new "tools" to do missionary work.  It's going to be exciting!!!

We had Thanksgiving Dinner last night, which wasn't like I expected.  I guess the family doesn't like turkey because we had pork instead.  It was great though and I loved it.  We already have a family lined up to feed us the Sunday after American Thanksgiving so we can have both.  I'm super excited.  

Speaking of excited, we may have the greatest service project happening in the near future.  It will be freaking fantastic but I going to leave you hanging so you keep coming back to read my emails.  Just prepare yourselves for some awesome pictures and cool stories... If we get permission, because it's outta our zone.  But we will and we will have a great time :)

As for the work, lets see.  We finally got in with a less active sister and have set up a regular time to meet with her each week.  We taught our investigator kids only once because they canceled yesterday for Thanksgiving.  We've made a lot of progress with our former investigators and have an appointment with one of them and a time to stop by for another.  Hopefully they will turn into new or progressing investigators.  We've also contacted a few other former investigators but they mostly don't want to talk to us or they moved.  One was really promising because her mom said she would be interested in talking to us again, but she moved in with her Grandpa so we won't get to teach her.  

We taught Randy again, but he tried to drop us.  Silly Randy, he still hasn't learned that when we come we bring the spirit and he always ends up inviting us back by the end of the lesson.  The problem with it is that every lesson is the same.  He tries to drop us, we read a scripture and exhort him to actually read and pray and then he says yeah, he will, then we set up a return appointment (which he cancels) so we drop in when he's back in town and find out he didn't read and pray, so he tries to drop us and the cycle continues.  Next time we will be taking the big guns, Elder Rasher.  Elder Rasher is the most bold missionary in the Zone and is the one that Randy first talked to.  Randy mentions Elder Rasher in almost every lesson so we will bring him along and he will make sure that Randy actually starts making progress.  In the words of Elder Rasher, "We are going to spirit punch him in the face super hard".  

Some of the best news of the week is that we actually got referrals!!!  We never get referrals from members but somehow we got two this past week.  We haven't had time to contact them so we will be doing that this coming week.  The other great news is that a less active/recent convert family is starting to come back.  They were baptised this last February and very quickly got a hold of some anti and fell away.  They told the Bishop that they wanted to be listed as Do Not Contact.  Then this last week the family called Sister Wolsey in the Primary presidency and said that it sucked that friends from the ward stopped talking to them.  Sister Wolsey explained that when you are listed as a DNC that means that there is no contact, so the members were just respecting the family's wishes.  But now they want to be taken off of the DNC list and that means that soon we may be able to get in there and bring them back.  They are one of the happiest and saddest stories in the ward this past year and it is HUGE news that they are starting to come back.  I'm so excited!!!!

Yesterday we had the best Zone Training Meeting yet!  We learned about a lot of things and I got a lot of personal revelation on how I can be a better trainer and missionary.  I also thought of some ways to make my personal study more effective and now I have no time to do all the things I want to do!  One thing I learned that I thought I would share has to do with being a purpose driven versus a task driven missionary (although it can apply to any calling or occupation).  A purpose driven missionary knows their reason for coming to the field.  They care about the people they teach and want to help them.  The spirit works freely through them as they invite others to come unto Christ.  A task drive missionary cares more about the numbers.  They just do things as if it is a checklist, with no real conviction behind their actions.  The spirit does not work through them.  In life, we can chose to be purpose or task driven.  Do we do things to get good stats and just because we are told to do so, or do we do things because we truly want to help?  In your callings at church, as home and visiting teachers, quorum, group, or class leaders, or any of the other callings you may have, resolve in yourself to let the spirit work through you to touch the lives of those around you and become a purpose driven disciple of Christ.

Have a great week and remember to show love to those around you.  I love you all and hope that you have a wonderful Columbus day weekend.

Love,

Elder Wake