Week 21: What's Nine Plus Ten?

First off I want to thank everyone who sent me an email wishing me a happy birthday! It was much appreciated. 

So with the recent transfer we didn't actually have too much change. Everyone in the Hurtado House is the same which we all expected. And we only had two Elders get exchanged in our District. For the most part it is the same old song and dance which has it's pros and cons. 

Over this last week I've been reminded that sometimes in the gospel we need to be friends to people, and when I say sometimes I mean 24/7 and when I say people I mean everyone. A couple of experiences that we've had will help to illustrate why I was reminded of this.
Recently Elder Kunz and I decided to try and do more work in the Samoan ward, they do feed us every night after all. So we've been visiting a lot of families in the Samoan ward recently, less-actives, very-actives and everywhere in-between. We have not only been able to meet a lot more of our Samoan members that don't make it to church but we have also gained the trust of a lot of the members in the ward which is crucial as a missionary. The bishop in the ward has seen our efforts and has rewarded us with the names of families that he needs us to see and visit. This has opened the door for a lot more work on our end which is great cause a busy missionary is a happy missionary. Additional pros: one of the members works for Arm and Hammer and gave us some laundry detergent (probably because we stink).

The other experience that we had actually occurred last night (mom don't read this next paragraph).
So Elder Kunz and I are trying to decide where to go at the end of our P-Day since our other plans fell through. Now most of the time we try to stay out of North Adelanto after the sun goes down for reasons very apparent when you Google "Adelanto". But Elder Kunz suggested that we try (again) to contact a referral we got all the way from Hawaii to drop off a Bible and a Book of Mormon. So we drive to Daniele's place (which is located in an area that they probably used to film "Straight Outta Compton") and she isn't home AGAIN. But we are able to meet some of the people that she lives with after they asked us who we were through the door. (We decided it wouldn't be a good time to answer "The Feds"). So we try a couple more potential investigators in the area just further north. When we knock on the door of JJ and Gina's house we are greeted by JJ who we first ran into about 5 or so weeks ago. This time he did all the talking. We were on his door-step for about 45 minutes and the synopsis of the conversation is that he is trying his best to be the best father that he can be. He told us that he grew up in Compton and moved up here to give his kids a better chance. He has taught his 6 and 7 year old how to shoot guns so they can protect the house if he is "down on the floor." He told us that if we come through his door to shove religion down anyone's throat that he would shoot us but that if we come then they would pull out two more chairs for us at their dinner table as friends. He also told us that we should be strapped up which he is probably right but I think we should be alright, we're in good company ( Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them - 2 Kings 6 : 16). It's quite obvious that JJ isn't going to have his mind changed about religion any time soon but he reminded me that there are still good people out there trying their best to protect their families from the evils of the world. We might sometimes be inclined to look at ourselves as failures because the friend that we referred to the missionaries didn't get baptized when that is simply not the case. Sometimes our assignment from the Lord is to be friends. Friends with our family, friends with members friends with strangers, friends with everyone so that way they can see your light. "And again I say unto you, my friends, for from henceforth I shall call you friends, it is expedient that I give unto you this commandment, that ye become even as my friends in days when I was with them, traveling to preach the gospel in my power;" - D&C 84:77

I hope all y'all have a good week and remember that sometimes friendship is your assignment for now.

Love y'all,
Elder Puzey



 Our City
 The Zone
The District 
The Bike Gang

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Week 28: The Liahona

Image
So we've been here for a week now so we're starting to get things figured out. This week actually flew by for me cause we were super busy! So Monday was transfers and that takes the whole day so that was over instantly. On Tuesday we were down in Rancho again to help bring up the luggage of the new missionaries in our zone. On Thursdays the assistants came up to the desert to talk to us and the other two zone leaders in our stake. All four of us have never been zone leaders before and have never had a companion that was a zone leader so they answered the questions that we had and walked us through some of our responsibilities and such. It was much needed. On Saturday we were back down in Rancho (I'm not complaining cause I love the valley) to go on exchanges with the APs. They live in the backyard of a members house and they call it a barn but the inside is exactly like a house and it is so nice! It's probably 3 times the size of our apartment. While on exchanges Elder ...
Read more

Week 49: #findjohn

Image
Well this week wasn't too eventful in the teaching department. We did teach a new investigator named Don on Tuesday. He is Catholic and his son goes to Notre Dame so he has a pretty good understanding about authority. He seemed surprisingly accepting of the different things that we taught and he had real questions to ask us. He wondered if John was the last Apostle and if he never died then why isn't the whole world trying to find John? He said that with all the technology we have and phones and pictures that it should be easy for us to find him. He was mostly joking at this point but he brings up a good point. I think we should all try to find John. He's probably got a lot of stories he could tell us throughout the years. Maybe next time we go to teach Don we can tell him about the three Nephites?? Just kidding. I'm really enjoying living here in Rancho Cucamonga. It reminds me of California which I guess makes sense but being in the desert for 10 months made...
Read more

Week 1: World War

Image
The first day at the MTC feels like you're in a tornado with whirlwinds and shafts in the whirlwinds. It's fast paced and everything is new. Luckily there is always someone to point you in the right direction. Not even 20 minutes being here and our new district is in the classroom which is where we meet our companions for the first time. My companion is Elder Jensen who is from Bountiful and spent a year at Utah State. The other two elders are our roommates for our stay at the MTC. I'll save y'all the boring information about our time in the classroom and just get to the good stuff. The story behind the title originates on the first floor of our residence building. That is where all of the language missionaries are staying so many of them have been there for nine weeks and some even up to twelve. When we first moved in one of the elders on our floor lead us to the first floor to get drinks from the vending machine. He told us to prepare for the "World War"...
Read more