(Editor's note: Elder DeFord included videos this time, however, they are sideways. I will post them when I figure out how to turn them the right way)
Man it feels like this was a long week. It really wasn't
that long,
but the last few days, at least, felt pretty long. Should be good though
😊
Last Monday was a ton of fun, sorry again to all the peeps I didn't
email last week... was just distracted, oops. Haha yeah, it was a good
day though. Since we were completely out of miles we asked the Zone
Leaders to drive us around for the day. We just kind of chilled and
started laundry and what not while we waited for them and emailed and
what not, then we went with them to Walmart, went shopping, hit the
mall for a while. We went to Lowes for about 2 hours. I got my ninja
course time down to 1 minute 7 seconds or so, need to work on the
salmon ladder but good other than that. We went back to Brent's and emailed
some more. Then I actually made dinner for us and Brent. It was kinda
fun, although I'm apparently a teensy bit rusty ;P turned out ok
though. Then we went and had family night with the R’s and are
continuing to help them become more active, hopefully one day building
in J the desire to be baptized with the rest of his family.
Now Tuesday... that was long. By the end of the day Monday, when we
got home, we had less than 5 miles left. Luckily Tuesday was the last
day of the month but still… 5 miles. The best we could do was drive to
the most centrally located chapel in our area and bike around all day.
It was a little chilly to say the least. And it was a rough morning.
We did all of our studies and planning and what not, then we went and
talked to Dale and some other people around the park, went and
unlocked the bikes, had to track down Jake to get some hex keys to fix
Elder Skaggs bike, the we had to put our bike rack back on, finally
got the bikes on, and then decided that in order to again protect our
precious miles we would stay a while longer, make calls and texts to
be productive, so we could eat lunch at home cuz there was no way we
were coming back before the end of the day. So all of that done we
finally drove the exactly 2.2 miles to the Marrott Meadows building,
with 2.4 miles left to get us home again at the end of the day... get
our bikes of the rack and realize.... we had forgotten our helmets at
home. And unfortunately we are obedient missionaries, and the white
handbook says that to ride a bike you must have a helmet. Crud
monkeys. It's just gonna be one of those days. So we borrowed some
from the J's because they're fairly close and had to book it out
of there to make our first appointment. Which cancelled. One of those
days. We went around visiting people, came back and were late for an
appointment, then the husband wasn't home for our dinner appointment
so we just got some dinner in a Tupperware cuz we couldn't go in without
the husband.... yep one of those days. But we did have some good lessons
in the evening at least... except the ones that cancelled. But yeah. It's good.
Wednesday we had Zone conference to discuss the new schedule, but
first I went to go see Emilio for the first time in way too long. We
went for lunch... and he wasn't there. Turns out he took off the whole
day... and I even brought him a present too. But Zone conference, was
super cool. Got to see President Hodgman and everyone. It was fun and
we discussed lots of stuff. For a really long time. After that just
more lessons and missionarying.
Thursday was more of the same. We spent all morning contacting people,
we actually found some really cool referrals and knocked some random
doors... and bunches of people didn't answer, but that's the way it
goes. Welcome to missionary life. We had a lunch meeting with some
ward mission leaders and then went and did a bunch of service at a
food bank for most of the afternoon. That's one thing that's new. You
know how we've had Just Serve for like 4 years? So apparently it's
just starting in Utah so now we're supposed to do like 10 hours of
service a week, it's a really good way to fill those not very
productive times during the day. We had a lesson with B and
family, then a meeting with Bishop McGriff and Brother Bateman about
some possible investigators in his ward.
Weekly planning... ya hoo... but then we ate at Great Steak with Emilio
for real this time and it was fabulous. And then more weekly planning
cuz one session just wasn't enough. Early afternoon lesson, trying to
get some kids to the temple, dinner was awesome. There's this place in
Provo called 180 tacos that's suuuper good. It apparently used to be a
food truck but it was so successful that they opened an actual
restaurant. They make tacos that are themed after cultures around the
world. And make crappy donuts. But thats not really important. We had
a great lesson with the G’s, their mom even sat in and
participated which was great. It seems like they're really making
progress now which is fantastic. Then another cancelled lesson, and an
unexpected lesson and blessing that was super duper good.
Now Saturday was a looong day, first we had a lesson cancel, went and
picked walnuts for two hours as a service... and knocked on doors the
rest of the day with very little success unless they were members and
we came to talk about other people. Like I said, long day. But it
paid off right at the end. We had a lesson with a family in our
trailer park that was super nice and went really well. Good way to end
a long day.
Sunday was good as well. We had Stake Correlation meeting in the
morning and we actually had most of our ward mission leaders there so
it was super nice. Then we contacted some people during sacrament
meeting, got to set up some lessons, and of course, the best part,
three testimony meetings and three sacraments. It's living the life!
You really learn a lot about yourself and your Savior when you can
contemplate His sacrifice three times every Sunday. What a blessing.
After all of that we got told by a family that we've been trying to
reach for months that they weren't interested. It was kind of
a relief. As much as I love them and want them to come into the
Gospel, I'm glad they finally gave us a straight answer, and I pray
for the Elders that will one day teach them. I just wish I could've
helped them more. We visited some more people, and set up some family
History visits for our recent converts so they can take family names
to the temple. I'm so excited for them. I'm glad I'm here in Provo,
it's a good place. We also set up to learn how to weld in a couple
weeks then we're going hiking with Brent in Moab sometime this month.
Looking forward to it and I'll see you all next week!
Love,
Elder DeFord
but the last few days, at least, felt pretty long. Should be good though
😊
Last Monday was a ton of fun, sorry again to all the peeps I didn't
email last week... was just distracted, oops. Haha yeah, it was a good
day though. Since we were completely out of miles we asked the Zone
Leaders to drive us around for the day. We just kind of chilled and
started laundry and what not while we waited for them and emailed and
what not, then we went with them to Walmart, went shopping, hit the
mall for a while. We went to Lowes for about 2 hours. I got my ninja
course time down to 1 minute 7 seconds or so, need to work on the
salmon ladder but good other than that. We went back to Brent's and emailed
some more. Then I actually made dinner for us and Brent. It was kinda
fun, although I'm apparently a teensy bit rusty ;P turned out ok
though. Then we went and had family night with the R’s and are
continuing to help them become more active, hopefully one day building
in J the desire to be baptized with the rest of his family.
Now Tuesday... that was long. By the end of the day Monday, when we
got home, we had less than 5 miles left. Luckily Tuesday was the last
day of the month but still… 5 miles. The best we could do was drive to
the most centrally located chapel in our area and bike around all day.
It was a little chilly to say the least. And it was a rough morning.
We did all of our studies and planning and what not, then we went and
talked to Dale and some other people around the park, went and
unlocked the bikes, had to track down Jake to get some hex keys to fix
Elder Skaggs bike, the we had to put our bike rack back on, finally
got the bikes on, and then decided that in order to again protect our
precious miles we would stay a while longer, make calls and texts to
be productive, so we could eat lunch at home cuz there was no way we
were coming back before the end of the day. So all of that done we
finally drove the exactly 2.2 miles to the Marrott Meadows building,
with 2.4 miles left to get us home again at the end of the day... get
our bikes of the rack and realize.... we had forgotten our helmets at
home. And unfortunately we are obedient missionaries, and the white
handbook says that to ride a bike you must have a helmet. Crud
monkeys. It's just gonna be one of those days. So we borrowed some
from the J's because they're fairly close and had to book it out
of there to make our first appointment. Which cancelled. One of those
days. We went around visiting people, came back and were late for an
appointment, then the husband wasn't home for our dinner appointment
so we just got some dinner in a Tupperware cuz we couldn't go in without
the husband.... yep one of those days. But we did have some good lessons
in the evening at least... except the ones that cancelled. But yeah. It's good.
Wednesday we had Zone conference to discuss the new schedule, but
first I went to go see Emilio for the first time in way too long. We
went for lunch... and he wasn't there. Turns out he took off the whole
day... and I even brought him a present too. But Zone conference, was
super cool. Got to see President Hodgman and everyone. It was fun and
we discussed lots of stuff. For a really long time. After that just
more lessons and missionarying.
Thursday was more of the same. We spent all morning contacting people,
we actually found some really cool referrals and knocked some random
doors... and bunches of people didn't answer, but that's the way it
goes. Welcome to missionary life. We had a lunch meeting with some
ward mission leaders and then went and did a bunch of service at a
food bank for most of the afternoon. That's one thing that's new. You
know how we've had Just Serve for like 4 years? So apparently it's
just starting in Utah so now we're supposed to do like 10 hours of
service a week, it's a really good way to fill those not very
productive times during the day. We had a lesson with B and
family, then a meeting with Bishop McGriff and Brother Bateman about
some possible investigators in his ward.
Weekly planning... ya hoo... but then we ate at Great Steak with Emilio
for real this time and it was fabulous. And then more weekly planning
cuz one session just wasn't enough. Early afternoon lesson, trying to
get some kids to the temple, dinner was awesome. There's this place in
Provo called 180 tacos that's suuuper good. It apparently used to be a
food truck but it was so successful that they opened an actual
restaurant. They make tacos that are themed after cultures around the
world. And make crappy donuts. But thats not really important. We had
a great lesson with the G’s, their mom even sat in and
participated which was great. It seems like they're really making
progress now which is fantastic. Then another cancelled lesson, and an
unexpected lesson and blessing that was super duper good.
Now Saturday was a looong day, first we had a lesson cancel, went and
picked walnuts for two hours as a service... and knocked on doors the
rest of the day with very little success unless they were members and
we came to talk about other people. Like I said, long day. But it
paid off right at the end. We had a lesson with a family in our
trailer park that was super nice and went really well. Good way to end
a long day.
Sunday was good as well. We had Stake Correlation meeting in the
morning and we actually had most of our ward mission leaders there so
it was super nice. Then we contacted some people during sacrament
meeting, got to set up some lessons, and of course, the best part,
three testimony meetings and three sacraments. It's living the life!
You really learn a lot about yourself and your Savior when you can
contemplate His sacrifice three times every Sunday. What a blessing.
After all of that we got told by a family that we've been trying to
reach for months that they weren't interested. It was kind of
a relief. As much as I love them and want them to come into the
Gospel, I'm glad they finally gave us a straight answer, and I pray
for the Elders that will one day teach them. I just wish I could've
helped them more. We visited some more people, and set up some family
History visits for our recent converts so they can take family names
to the temple. I'm so excited for them. I'm glad I'm here in Provo,
it's a good place. We also set up to learn how to weld in a couple
weeks then we're going hiking with Brent in Moab sometime this month.
Looking forward to it and I'll see you all next week!
Love,
Elder DeFord
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