Week 66 The missionary that thought he was a failure

Monday 1/30/2017

In the morning we hit Walmart before we started laundry. We got a Costco expedition put together with Esplanade and the Sisters. We grabbed lunch at Chick-fil-A after. We finished our Pday errands before the activity. We played some volleyball and Gatorball. 

Tuesday 

We were able to see Jason. He showed us some of the work he does out of his garage making molds. He makes molds that get filled with foam that they ship stuff in. He setup a time we could meet with him later in the week. We went and helped the Palmyra Elders with a service at a less actives home. We helped move a dresser and organize some boxes for her. Dinner was with the Dean's at El Chef Taco which is always a good time. After dinner we tried to see some people. We tried to see a less active but it turned out he hasn't lived there for like five years. So we taught the boy at the door the restoration and he says we can probably catch his family home on the weekends. We finished the night visiting Victor and reading the introduction of the Book of Mormon with him. We exchanged at the end of the night, I went with Elder Westover into his area. 

Wednesday 

After studies we got a call to cover for Rise against Hunger. We headed over and washed the stuff from some of their events. We had lunch at Wendy's. We had a pass off lesson with the Zone leaders. The guy was very interesting he likes to approach everything very logically. We had a lesson with a returning member named Patrica. The Bishop came and we taught her the restoration. After dinner we did some more finding. We were going to a house, but as we were walking up the Spanish Sisters were on the doorstep. They were looking for someone else that lived in the same house. We ended the night at a less active members home. We exchanged back at the end of the night. 

Thursday 

Morning Zone Training to start the day. We focused on the Gospel of Jesus Christ and baptismal dates. Elder Lee brought everyone giant palmelos with faces drawn on them for everyone. The district had lunch at Panda Express. We went to go see Jason he wanted us to come back next week since he is hard pressed with a deadline on a project. We had dinner with the Kenubahls. We got to build some forts while Sister Kenubahl finished dinner. We helped put a tarp back up on the travel trailor. We went out and tried people for the rest of the night. We met these two guys unloading a moving truck we offered our help, but they were just finishing. We stopped by and saw Paula, but didn't get a chance to really talk with her and her busy family. We finished the night at the Wright's with Brother Larkin. Brother Wright taught us about forgiveness. 

Friday 

We went to the church in the morning to do our weekly planning. We were able to finish before we went over to the Palmyra apartment for lunch. We went across the street with the Palmyra Elders to meet Elder Russell/Cook. We helped clean out a apartment that had a small fire and then was vandalized. We were there for a couple hours before we went out to do some finding. We talked to a few people that didn't have a lot of time. We were able to walk by a house where they were cleaning out a garage. We met Tera her daughter and her husband. She actually is a manager of a apartment that missionaries live in, in the Irvine mission. She has a lot of friends that are members. She was open for us to stop by another time. We had dinner with the Walkers at Tulsa Rib. We met Brother Sutherland to try to visit Mercedes, but she wasn't home. We ended the night at the Dunkin Donuts filling out stake missionary papers with the Walkers. The Walkers also helped confirm that Elder Lee gave us palmelos not giant lemons. 

Saturday 

District finding in the morning in the Sisters area. We were able to talk to a few people we taught the restoration to a guy that seemed to except it, but not to the point of taking a Book of Mormon and acting. We had lunch as a district at the round table pizza place. We went to see Esteban but he wasn't there and his mom speaks Spanish. We were going to see Nerha and we caught her they moved the day before. They still live in our area we just have to get the exact address. We went and saw Tim who we found out is a inactive member of 30-40 years. He isn't sure if he wants to come back or not. He said it is up to us. We were able to see Angelica and teach her the restoration. I felt impressed to invite her to be baptized and we set the date of March 11. We saw Pablo and taught him the restoration also. His concern is he doesn't want to change from being Catholic even if he knows it is true. Dinner was with James he showed us his electric powered bike. We went to see Clara, but she wasn't home her mom told us about their crazy schedule. We ended the night with the adult session of stake conference. They focused on family councils and even did a real family council. Elder Kevin Miskin the seventy presiding shared a cool story of a missionary that thought he was a failure from when he was a mission president. 

Sunday  

In the morning we went to stake conference. Elder Miskin shared another good story of him getting lost in the mountains behind his home. After stake conference we picked up our dinner. We went out and tried to see Katerina, but it wasn't a good time for her. We ended at Pedro and Linda's teaching then about the Fall. 

The missionary that thought he was a failure 

So there was a missionary that thought to try to talking to people since that is the charge missionaries are given. He is on his way to a gas station, he prays telling heavenly father he will talk to who ever is on the other side of the gas pump. He gets there and no one is there at first, but then a women pulls up and starts to pump gas. He decides to say to her looking around from the other side of the pump "is the gas better on that side". She then says "don't even I know who you are your a Mormon missionary". She then proceeded to say she knows Kevin Miskin. The missionary then tells her she should call him President Miskin and a argument pursued on what to call him. The missionary left feeling he had failed, he returned home reporting in his home coming talk that he had failed and falling into a depressed state. Well that women actually was neighbors with President Miskin. She left the gas station drove straight home pulled into her driveway and walked to the Presidents home. She knocked on the door, he answered then she proceeded to ask "what is up with the President thing, are you the President of a bike club?". He explained it she pretty much moved on. She soon discovered that all of the people around her tuned out to be Mormons. She would go to sports practice finding out team members were members and various other places. She went to a class looked at a girl and asked 'are you Mormon?" the girl said "yes how did you know?" she responded with "they are all over". Later on the woman was doing President Miskins daughters hair and asked why do all these Mormons surround her. The daughter responded with Heavenly Father wants you to join the church. So that is what she did. Some time after, the missionary comes back to visit. President Miskin is at a conference and gets the impression to go talk to the guy in the back. At the end of the conference he hurrys after the guy that turns out to be the missionary. He stops him as he is getting into his car. The missionary says hello President Miskin. He tells him about how he feels he was a failure and the time he failed talking to the one women at the gas station. President Miskin then tells him of how he isn't a failure. He tells him that the women is actually there and teaching Sunday school. They once again met and it was a joyous reunion with tears. Sometimes we fail to see the results of our actions, quickly making the judgment that we have failed. 

Love Elder Caleb S. Bailey