Week 58 - Stop Complaining have some Patience

Monday 12/5/2017

We started our laundry in the morning at Elder Beddes/Jones apartment. We went to Garden Grove to the Costco. I was able to get my food for the month. I met this guy with his 12 days of whiskey advent calendar, he was so proud of it and was showing us. We stopped by Walmart then Joe's before we dropped the stuff off. P Day activity was good, we actually played some activities. After we grabbed dinner and picked up our laundry before the night ended. 

Tuesday 

We stopped by post office in the morning to get something sent off. We then went to the mission office to get somethings printed off. Elder Beddes/Jones wanted to do temporary exchange for a lesson, do to one of them being sick. We got there and they decided they didn't want to do a temporary exchange. We had an appointment with a referral Sarah. Sarah wants her 10 year old daughter exposed to different religions so she can make a decision for herself. So we taught Megan her daughter the restoration. Megan is a really smart kid, she is a little hyperactive so we had to make sure to hold her attention. We invited her to church and setup a return appointment with them. They are going to have some trouble coming to church, but that can be worked out. Megan gifted us with some cool jingle bell necklaces before we left. We went and saw Ron that we saw the previous week. I kept from dropping Ron the week before since Elder Wright was hopeful. Ron went on several tangents this time the end result was, he got dropped. He doesn't want to change from where he is so we left him with the cards he was dealt as he put it. He is pretty entertaining to watch and listen to though, just not an great use of time. Our dinner was with the Deans at El Chef Taco. We stopped by a new move in family from Michigan. He told us some of his mission stories and we shared the Christmas initiative with the family. We ended the night at the Wrights. We focused on following the prophet with the Wrights. On our way home we got stuck at a railroad for a 30 minute train. That isn't exaggerated either it was timed.  

Wednesday 

After studies we were going to go to Ruby's for cheap hamburger day or something like that, but the line was too long. So we did lunch with Beddes/Jones. We did service at the Dean's home doing various outside tasks. We also reconnected them to their wifi. They were on the phone for two hours for something that took us a couple minutes. I then went on a temp. exchange with Elder Jones since Elder Beddes was still sick. We went out visiting people. I got some pictures with a wooden bear on someone's door step. We went to dinner with the Shinotos. They were a super cool family too bad they are in the other ward. We then went to a lesson with Nehra. The plan was to drop her, but I asked the baptismal interview questions. She is pretty solid except her keeping the commitments. So I ended up having a serious talk about commitment and the possibility of dropping her if she doesn't start keeping commitments. She has had missionaries for three years, but hasn't progressed. So we are going to see if she will progress now. We went back and waited for Elder Wright/Beddes to exchange back. 

Thursday 

In the morning we had zone training we talked about the Christlike attributes. One attribute that was focused on a lot was the importance of charity. We learned that without charity we are nothing (Moroni 7:44). Our dinner was with the Fairbanks at Los Cabo's then we did a temp. exchange with Elder Beddes/Jones. I stayed with Elder Beddes, studied and discussed life. In the mean time Elder Wright/Jones went to an institution to visit someone that isn't all there. We exchanged back then invited some people to the ward Christmas party. We ended the night by stopping by the bishop's home to pickup a turkey he cooked for us. 

Friday 

We went out between studies and lunch. We didn't find anyone we tried home. We did our weekly planning for the following week. We got some pretty solid plans. We had time to go out and see people. We met Rosie who was so happy to see us which isn't normal. She told us about some of the trials she has gone trough recently like two spinal surgeries. We also were able to see two less active families and invite them to the Christmas party. The night ended with the ward Christmas party setup with all of the ward missionaries. We got it done after a few hours of work. 

Saturday 

We had the morning ward breakfast Christmas party. It was pretty good they had the missionaries be greeters with reindeer ears. I got Santa to sit on my lap. We had to get out of there just at the end for a service. We went to a school with most of the zone to help with science kits. That was a majority of the day. We finished the service and went to the Fairbanks to do more service and to get some food. We were there for a while trying to help them get their Christmas timers setup. We also had to get their wifi situation on the lock down so they could operate the timer from their phone. That is where the night died. 

Sunday 

Our sacrament meeting was on the pure love of Christ or charity that seems to be a reoccurring topic this week. After church we had a missionary meeting then dinner with the McQueen family. They gave us another name for the Book of Mormon challenge. We met up with the zone leaders to give them some things for the Book of Mormon challenge. Elder Beddes/Jones got the zone leaders in their ongoing car prank war. They covered their car with stockings filled with dying singing cards. They don't produce pretty sounds. We visited some less actives and got a return for Monday night. We also were able to meet Brother Ryan a less active that says it will probably take a crowbar to get him back to church. Hey I'm always up for a challenge. 

Stop Complaining have some Patience 

I'm not sure what to focus on this week so many topics. I was going to do being bold, but that is for another time I guess. Someone recently told me I don't complain. Well my thought is what is there to complain about? Is there anything that is really worth complaining about? Of course I don't complain. Who wants to be or hear a complainer? They kind of kill the mood and tell us the obvious sometimes. 

Anyway patience is a great Christlike attribute. It allows us to overcome things that may be annoying and such. It may not be charity which without we are nothing, but it is nice to have. I think after charity patience is close, to follow along with all of the other Christlike attributes. What is it we must do to gain these attributes? First we want to get charity since it seems to be the most important. If we read at the end of Moroni 7 it tells us how we can obtain this pure love of Christ. We must pray unto the Father with all the energy of heart, that ye may be filled with this love. As we continue to follow his example and seek for these gifts, they can all eventually be received. I could continue to drawn this out, but I see no reason to. The concept is simple to understand the hard part is usually applying it. So let us try to apply it. The Lord provides us with everything we need, it is up to us to go out and receive. We can't sit there yelling at the furnace to heat us if we don't do our part and go to get the wood for it to burn. We will freeze.