I have always wondered why our ward never seemed to have that great of
missionaries in it. The YSA ward I went to the year before I left had great
missionaries but they are the only good ones I have ever met. Getting to know
the ward like that is a huge job in wards where there are like 250 active like
sundance, but I think doing stuff like that is really important.
It really is such a blessing to have the temple so close. But I think it is too bad that there will no longer be the cardston road trips with all the youth. Those were always so much fun.
So ya we are still having some companionship issues but things are getting better. I think the things you said are pretty accurate. They did a lot of administration and not a lot of ministration last transfer. I have learned a lot about my companion in a week. He is someone who is lacking confidence. He naturally just conforms to the habits of his companion. But because he felt like he was the senior zone leader he wanted to be running things. We have had many discussions, some pretty intense ones, and I think we are finally starting to understand each other more. You and mom know probably better than anyone else. I can be pretty tough to live with sometimes. I am very set in my ways and expect people to do what I say but I don't always listen to what they are saying in return. So I can see where he is coming from as well.
And he is a good missionary. He still seems pretty young and inexperienced, he hasn't really had many investigators to teach on his mission. But he has a lot of good qualities. He is really caring and kind, and I think he does a good job making people feel loved. He is also fun, he isn't a boring robot missionary he knows when to have a good laugh. And he is really obedient and he is always keeping me away from the edge. He doesn't like to push the limits. I always get put with someone or at least around someone to keep me on track.
The zone is doing a bit better. We had a zone leader council this week, where we all went to the Presidents house and talked about our zones. The biggest change we came up with is that we no longer account every night. Up until now, every night the District leaders call their areas and account for their day, and then they call the zone leaders and account to them for their district. President Millar felt it was too much phone calls, too much time, not effective, and it made people feel less accountable to the Lord in their nightly prayer. So I totally agree. And I love having an hour of free time before bed now. We are running a zone training on wednesday for like 3 hours and hopefully can ignite some of the elders here who don't seem to have their hearts into it.
I wanted to mention as well that this alice lady had a pretty cool experience. She said 2 days before she met us, she prayed to god and he told her to stop drinking tea and coffee. So she tried to stop. And then on saturday the member we brought with us casually mentioned that we don't drink tea or coffee, and she told us of her experience. She was pretty amazed and she definitely took it as a sign. Which is cool.
Also last week we were knocking. I don't like to cook my own meals here. So we talked to a really nice catholic lady for like 10 minutes and she said ultimately she wasn't interested. But she was nice, so I invited ourselves over for dinner sometime. She was a bit shocked, but she was like ya of course you can. So this week on saturday we went over for lunch. Pizza, salad, good stuff. Except she also brought her catholic priest over as well. We had a really good chat, nothing hostile just really friendly. Even though we didn't share the restoration with them, I think things like that can do a lot to change how people view Mormons and mormon missionaries. I also found it really funny that the priest was drinking a beer when we walked in and offered us one.
So good luck with your marathon.
I also got that shoebox full of sweets so thanks for that. My favorite part was the envelope of pictures, especially the pictures of your guy's canoe trip.
Love Elder Steed
It really is such a blessing to have the temple so close. But I think it is too bad that there will no longer be the cardston road trips with all the youth. Those were always so much fun.
So ya we are still having some companionship issues but things are getting better. I think the things you said are pretty accurate. They did a lot of administration and not a lot of ministration last transfer. I have learned a lot about my companion in a week. He is someone who is lacking confidence. He naturally just conforms to the habits of his companion. But because he felt like he was the senior zone leader he wanted to be running things. We have had many discussions, some pretty intense ones, and I think we are finally starting to understand each other more. You and mom know probably better than anyone else. I can be pretty tough to live with sometimes. I am very set in my ways and expect people to do what I say but I don't always listen to what they are saying in return. So I can see where he is coming from as well.
And he is a good missionary. He still seems pretty young and inexperienced, he hasn't really had many investigators to teach on his mission. But he has a lot of good qualities. He is really caring and kind, and I think he does a good job making people feel loved. He is also fun, he isn't a boring robot missionary he knows when to have a good laugh. And he is really obedient and he is always keeping me away from the edge. He doesn't like to push the limits. I always get put with someone or at least around someone to keep me on track.
The zone is doing a bit better. We had a zone leader council this week, where we all went to the Presidents house and talked about our zones. The biggest change we came up with is that we no longer account every night. Up until now, every night the District leaders call their areas and account for their day, and then they call the zone leaders and account to them for their district. President Millar felt it was too much phone calls, too much time, not effective, and it made people feel less accountable to the Lord in their nightly prayer. So I totally agree. And I love having an hour of free time before bed now. We are running a zone training on wednesday for like 3 hours and hopefully can ignite some of the elders here who don't seem to have their hearts into it.
I wanted to mention as well that this alice lady had a pretty cool experience. She said 2 days before she met us, she prayed to god and he told her to stop drinking tea and coffee. So she tried to stop. And then on saturday the member we brought with us casually mentioned that we don't drink tea or coffee, and she told us of her experience. She was pretty amazed and she definitely took it as a sign. Which is cool.
Also last week we were knocking. I don't like to cook my own meals here. So we talked to a really nice catholic lady for like 10 minutes and she said ultimately she wasn't interested. But she was nice, so I invited ourselves over for dinner sometime. She was a bit shocked, but she was like ya of course you can. So this week on saturday we went over for lunch. Pizza, salad, good stuff. Except she also brought her catholic priest over as well. We had a really good chat, nothing hostile just really friendly. Even though we didn't share the restoration with them, I think things like that can do a lot to change how people view Mormons and mormon missionaries. I also found it really funny that the priest was drinking a beer when we walked in and offered us one.
So good luck with your marathon.
I also got that shoebox full of sweets so thanks for that. My favorite part was the envelope of pictures, especially the pictures of your guy's canoe trip.
Love Elder Steed
I thought of one more crazy story. We got a referral for a russian guy given to us by the Elders in the neighboring area. A lady answered the door, and looked at us like we were really suspicious. She said that the Russian man who lived in one of the flats had just been murdered. She pulled out that day's newspaper, and sure enough the front page story was the murder of this Russian guy. We were just like well, what about yourself? Would you like to read the BoM? She was not.
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