June 28, 1991
I am homesick. There is just no question about it. Kristin sent me a picture today. She is so beautiful! I suppose that it serves me right for calling her on Monday (NOTE WHAT HAPPENS TO DAD WHEN HE IS NOT OBEDIENT) …I’m editing stuff about Kristin…It’s also been a long time since I heard from my parents. It’s really hard to be so far awash from the ones that I love.
Today has otherwise been a fairly good day. Things are going well, but we are in kind of a rut. We are basically teaching four discussions a day, but we don’t seem to be helping anyone make any real progress. It seems as though the Lord is trying to tell me that He will do this at Hid own rate. (OR THAT IF YOU AREN”T OBEDIENT THEN YOU DON”T GET THE EXTRA ENABLEMENT.. You’re dad was young and he didn’t understand that every time he focused on Kristin and dwelt his thoughts on her and broke mission rules that he lost the extra enablement and direction of the spirit. It hurt the work and Dad was left emotionally hurting. Learn from his example and commit to be perfectly obedient to the mission rules)
—- alex 8/10 June 29, 1991
Well, we certainly did not get very much done today. For some reason, every single one of four investigators was not home. I don’t know exactly why, but we sure have a hard time getting with people on Saturdays. I really wish that P-day was on Saturday instead of Monday. Oh well, you can’t have everything. We did manage to teach two discussions, making 20 for the week, but we didn’t manage to get anyone to commit to baptism on a specific date during this whole week. That makes it a pretty mediocre week.
I got a long letter from Kristin today. She is really feeling lonely. i wish that I could just make her see how important she is and how soon I will be coming home. When Kristin feels lonely, she has a very hard time keeping an eternal perspective. i guess we all do. Anyway, I just wish I could help her see. I am going to pray really hard for her. I know that it is especially hard for her not to date and be close to someone when she feels this way. however, the Lord has to prove us all. i know that she can make it. If only she could see how fast these ten months will go. If only I could help her. She is so wonderful. I am really hoping and praying for her to make it through this. I love her.
June 30, 1991
I realized something really important this morning while I was praying. I realized that if I really want the Lord to take care of Kristin, then I have to let Him take care of her. As long as I am talking to her on the phone, the Lord cannot take care of her for me because I am trying to do it. Not only that, He can do a far better job that I can. Even more important no matter what Kristin does or what she decides to do, the Lord will take care of me. Even if my worst fears (every missionaries worst fear) are realized and she sends me a Dear John, the Lord will provide for me. I still hope and pray that she’ll be there, but I have to stop worrying about the things that the Lord will do far better than I can if I will only let Him. The best thing that I can do for Kristin is to pray for her and communicate with her only through the mail. IF Kristin ends up marrying Scott or Darin or somebody else, the Lord will still take care of me. Kristin and i have the chance to marry each other, but if she decides to marry someone else then the Lord will still provide for me.
Today went really well. I spoke in church today and told everyone about the run-in with the hmong minister. Then I told them all about why it is that we do missionary work and how important reactivation is. Anyway, it went well. We have a ton of work to do this week, so I’m going to go to bed.
July 1, 1991
Today wasn’t P-day, so it was kind of a normal day. We went to the hospital to translate for a member family at 6:00 am. We stayed there until 1:30 pm. Needless to say, we didn’t have much study time. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be done up here in Stockton. I don’t know how in the world we are ever going to catch up. We have so much going on that it is becoming increasingly difficult to give each investigator the attention that they need in order to help them come unto baptism. I’m tires and going to bed. (One of the reason’s dad’s attitude is kind of bad in this entry is that I cut out a whole section about him talking to Kristin. Apparently she is going through the repentance process and she calls dad for support. I think dad thought he was helping her, but in the end it was something that she needed to prove to the Lord that she could do alone. Plus, by breaking mission rules, your dad looses his enablement and his ability to feel the spirit. It is important not to rationalize disobedience.)
July 2, 1991
I got some really good news today. Elder Lindsay will be coming up here tomorrow at about noon or so. That is awesome. now if we can just get some team-ups for every evening, it will be awesome. That way we can get twice as much work done. It will also be nice to find out how some of the families in Fresno that Elder Baker and I worked with are doing.
I went to see the doctor again this afternoon. He gave me some more antibiotics as well and a very strong decongestant/anti-histamine. The decongestant works awesome, but it sure as heck makes me sleepy.
Oh, yeah, the other good news's that the Lao Elders are moving out of our apartment to move in with some other Elders so that there will be room here for Elder Lindsay. That will certainly remove much of the unnecessary stress from my life.
We were able to teach only three discussions today, but they were much higher quality discussions than we have been having lately. I feel pretty good about the day. However, between district meeting and my doctor’s appointment, It sure didn’t seem like a whole day of missionary work. Oh well, I guess some days are just that way.
July 3, 1991
Today was a pretty good day, but between being on our bikes and the 110F weather, it seemed like it took an awful lot of effort to get anything done at all. We only got three discussions taught today, so that was kind of a bummer. When it is this hot, the Hmong people who don’t have air conditioning are never home. I don’t know for sure where they go, but it must be better than staying at home. We have been unsuccessful so far this month in committing anyone for baptism. We are hoping to get some commitments this weekend.
We got Elder Lindsay up here today. I don’t know for sure how long we’ll have three Elders here in Stockton, but it is sure nice for now.
I was hoping to be able to spend most of the day tomorrow proselyting, but neither of my comps wants to do that. Oh well!
The decongestant that the doctor gave me is still working really well, I only wish it didn’t make me so cotton pickin’ tired. I don’t think I’ll take any tomorrow. That way I can see if I’m getting any better or not.
July 4, 1991
Yesterday was a pretty hard day. We didn’t do any work all day long. My comps both said that they needed a break. Anyway, the zone had a big party over at the church. Since I couldn’t play basketball, I sat and watched some moves that the ZL’s rented. We watched Rocky V, Arachnophonis, and Three men and a Little Lady. It was kind of fun to sit down and watch some movies. (Obviously, dad’s mission had different rules than they do now. However, I want you to see what he thinks of the week on July 6th. I don’t think dad put it all together, but by not consecrating himself this week, he lost the enabling power of the spirit. You can see that in his attitude and in the success they have. Somethimes we have hard times and the Lord pulls away to test if we can remain valiant in the dark as well as the light and the dark is simply a test and not representative of disobedience. However, if you feel the enabling power leave, it’s time to take inventory in your heart. It’s time to repent and make changes and keep pushing forward so that we can experience the light again.)
I still don’t deal very well with Holidays as a missionary. The plain fact of the matter is that if all I’m going to do is goof off all day long, then I’d rather be at dome goofing off. Oh well, at least there aren’t too many more holidays left on my mission.
Tonight we went to watch the fireworks with Boun Pheng and his family. It was pretty fun to see so many kids see their very first fourth of July fireworks. While we were watching, I could help but wonder where Kristin was, where my family was. I always get homesick watching the fireworks. We did, however, get a food contact while we were there. I have been away from home now for 3 4th of July in a row. Maybe next year I’ll get to be home.
July 1, 1991
Today wasn’t P-day, so it was kind of a normal day. We went to the hospital to translate for a member family at 6:00 am. We stayed there until 1:30 pm. Needless to say, we didn’t have much study time. There is a lot of stuff that needs to be done up here in Stockton. I don’t know how in the world we are ever going to catch up. We have so much going on that it is becoming increasingly difficult to give each investigator the attention that they need in order to help them come unto baptism. I’m tires and going to bed. (One of the reason’s dad’s attitude is kind of bad in this entry is that I cut out a whole section about him talking to Kristin. Apparently she is going through the repentance process and she calls dad for support. I think dad thought he was helping her, but in the end it was something that she needed to prove to the Lord that she could do alone. Plus, by breaking mission rules, your dad looses his enablement and his ability to feel the spirit. It is important not to rationalize disobedience.)
July 2, 1991
I got some really good news today. Elder Lindsay will be coming up here tomorrow at about noon or so. That is awesome. now if we can just get some team-ups for every evening, it will be awesome. That way we can get twice as much work done. It will also be nice to find out how some of the families in Fresno that Elder Baker and I worked with are doing.
I went to see the doctor again this afternoon. He gave me some more antibiotics as well and a very strong decongestant/anti-histamine. The decongestant works awesome, but it sure as heck makes me sleepy.
Oh, yeah, the other good news's that the Lao Elders are moving out of our apartment to move in with some other Elders so that there will be room here for Elder Lindsay. That will certainly remove much of the unnecessary stress from my life.
We were able to teach only three discussions today, but they were much higher quality discussions than we have been having lately. I feel pretty good about the day. However, between district meeting and my doctor’s appointment, It sure didn’t seem like a whole day of missionary work. Oh well, I guess some days are just that way.
July 3, 1991
Today was a pretty good day, but between being on our bikes and the 110F weather, it seemed like it took an awful lot of effort to get anything done at all. We only got three discussions taught today, so that was kind of a bummer. When it is this hot, the Hmong people who don’t have air conditioning are never home. I don’t know for sure where they go, but it must be better than staying at home. We have been unsuccessful so far this month in committing anyone for baptism. We are hoping to get some commitments this weekend.
We got Elder Lindsay up here today. I don’t know for sure how long we’ll have three Elders here in Stockton, but it is sure nice for now.
I was hoping to be able to spend most of the day tomorrow proselyting, but neither of my comps wants to do that. Oh well!
The decongestant that the doctor gave me is still working really well, I only wish it didn’t make me so cotton pickin’ tired. I don’t think I’ll take any tomorrow. That way I can see if I’m getting any better or not.
July 4, 1991
Yesterday was a pretty hard day. We didn’t do any work all day long. My comps both said that they needed a break. Anyway, the zone had a big party over at the church. Since I couldn’t play basketball, I sat and watched some moves that the ZL’s rented. We watched Rocky V, Arachnophonis, and Three men and a Little Lady. It was kind of fun to sit down and watch some movies. (Obviously, dad’s mission had different rules than they do now. However, I want you to see what he thinks of the week on July 6th. I don’t think dad put it all together, but by not consecrating himself this week, he lost the enabling power of the spirit. You can see that in his attitude and in the success they have. Somethimes we have hard times and the Lord pulls away to test if we can remain valiant in the dark as well as the light and the dark is simply a test and not representative of disobedience. However, if you feel the enabling power leave, it’s time to take inventory in your heart. It’s time to repent and make changes and keep pushing forward so that we can experience the light again.)
I still don’t deal very well with Holidays as a missionary. The plain fact of the matter is that if all I’m going to do is goof off all day long, then I’d rather be at dome goofing off. Oh well, at least there aren’t too many more holidays left on my mission.
Tonight we went to watch the fireworks with Boun Pheng and his family. It was pretty fun to see so many kids see their very first fourth of July fireworks. While we were watching, I could help but wonder where Kristin was, where my family was. I always get homesick watching the fireworks. We did, however, get a food contact while we were there. I have been away from home now for 3 4th of July in a row. Maybe next year I’ll get to be home.
No comments:
Post a Comment