Week 56 - Beware of Complacency

Monday 11/21/2016 

It was still a little wet from all the rain on Sunday which must have continued till the morning. We had a morning game of ruby probably the last. We stopped by the mission office, then got lunch at alohas. We stopped at Joe's ice and they had pumpkin flavor for thanksgiving. We dropped off Elder Russel/Luu then headed back to Placentia. P Day activity was pretty boring, some people played some volleyball. Our dinner was with the Tuimalo family at the Dennys. We finished the night with finding since our lessons cancelled. 

Tuesday 

After studies we picked up Elder Sparacino/Lee for a service. We went and helped a single sister in the ward put up her Christmas decorations with her son. We were there for most of the day. She wants us to help with her son who is struggling, we are making plans on teaching him the lessons. It was dinner time by the time we got back to the apartment. We then went out for the night finding we were not able to get in contact with the people we wanted to see. 

Wednesday 

We had district meeting in the morning after our studies. It was pretty good, we discussed putting off the natural man. We came up with some processes that will reap continued improvement. The zone did pictures since it was the last district meeting of the transfer. We had zone lunch, where we said what we are thankful for. We stopped by the Fischer's to pick up dinner for later. We went out and did our continued finding effort since our service canceled on us. We haven't had any good success with our finding lately so time to change it up. 

Thanksgiving 🦃 Thursday

In the morning we had a small missionary turkey bowl. We finished up and dropped off Elder Russell/Luu. We had a lunch with the Thompsons and some of their family at the institute building. We played some pool and taught the kids how to play. We then stopped by the Remington's home. We got to meet a lot of their family and had a dinner with them. We went and picked up Elder Sparacino/Lee. Then we went to Tamara's one of my previous converts. She was probably home, but we couldn't get her to answer the door. So we left a note and a gift from Trouble (Elder Sparacino) and Bailey. The night ended at the Padilla families where we ate some turkey and we talked with them. 

Friday 

After studies Elder Sparacino/Lee made us an early lunch before weekly planning. Then we went back and did our weekly planning up till dinner. We panned for the unknown of what will happen with transfer calls. We picked our dinner from Sister Ayllon, she wasn't able to get another male. The Christmas initiative went live so it is time to start sharing in our finding efforts. We tried to visit some of our investigators, but everyone must have been shopping or something. 

Saturday   

After our studies we went out to try and see Nyle but he had some family over. The rain started to come down. We stopped by to give some food to Elder Lee since he was sick. We then brought them to yogurt land and then we went to picked up dinner from Sister Fisher. There was a Christ in the Americas presentation so we went to that and it was a good one. We went back to the apartment for transfer calls. We found out that they are closing the Elder side of the ward. Elder Rubio will be going to the ASL (American Sign Language) program. I will be going to Santiago Creek with Elder Wright who I have served around a few times. So that will be interesting. 

Sunday 

We had church in the morning. We had a pretty solid time the ward was kind of shocked with the Elder side being closed. We said our goodbyes to the majority. After church we did packing till dinner. Our dinner was with the Bunker family. Then we went and visited some of our favorite members. We started with the Thompson's, Sister Thompson was teary to see us go. We then stopped by the Remington's and signed their missionary book then took some pictures. We saw one of the best Christmas light displays we have ever seen. The display was synced with music that they broadcasted through the radio and they had a big screen with video. There was a Santa that came up to the car so we talked with him. The whole display loops every 20 minutes. We finished with the Padilla family. We went back to commence the packing. I do enjoy packing for some reason. 

Beware of Complacency 

Becoming complacent or stuck

I have seen it many times on my mission, I have been guilty of it myself. We often get comfortable with falling into a pattern. So we fall into a pattern and what happens is it stops all progress. Yeah I guess it is great to be comfortable, but at what cost. This reminds me of a parable I heard a while ago. I don't know where it came from. 

So there is two gardens. The gardens are divided with a wall. On one side of the wall is a wild garden with weeds and it is out of control basically. The other side has a beautifully cared for and tamed garden. So there is a gardener in both the gardens. The wild gardener is like come join me it is care free, he gives a convincing case. The gardener with the cared for garden says come join me and work in the garden with me. So we are standing on the wall unsure of what garden to go to. So we decide to be complacent and just stay on the wall. It is comfortable to stay on the wall and not make a decision. Well guess what the wall is owned by the gardener with the wild garden. Well we know who the wild gardener is. He would rather us stay on the wall and not make a decision, that stops us from progressing. 

We need to make sure we just aren't standing on the wall. So let us try to recognize when we are stopping ourselves and get out of the comfort zone. This is when we will see the most growth in our lives no matter what aspect we apply it to. 

Quite the amount of pictures from this week they will continue next week. We looking for a place to get some pictures one night. So where do you get lighting while it is dark outside? a lamp store. So we stopped by one for the great lighting. The employees asked no questions.