May 11, 1988
On Thursday, my new companion and I walked down to the bank on University Ave, got haircuts, and then hopped over to Walgreens to pick up slides I had taken to get developed. The slides are from the first three rolls of film I have shot on my mission, beginning in the MTC. In the afternoon, we went to check on a referral; he said he was not interested, but we were able to give him a audio cassette of Our Heavenly Father's Plan and our phone number.
We called Lloyd, one of our contacts, on Friday morning. When we asked if we could set up an appointment he replied, "Well, like I said at the onset: I'm Catholic and I'll probably die Catholic and I'm not really interested in changing." He went on to say, "I don't know that I'm really searching. I thank you for your dedication, but I think you would better spend your time teaching someone who is interested." Essentially, he dropped us; as it was, however, I was considering dropping him if we had been unable to set up an appointment.
In the afternoon we rode our bikes all the way down to Leslie's place on Corina. We chatted with her for ten minutes, and hopefully built a relationship of trust by getting to know her. She is opening her own shop on the fifteenth, she fixes up antiques and makes quilts. After the opening, her schedule should ease up so we can start teaching her. She is interested in learning more and looks promising. Leslie is one of the few reasons I might want to stay in Palo Alto.
After that, we went tracting. At one house we almost had a Book of Mormon placed when this lady acted like we offended her. She gave the book back and told me to cross her name off the tracting card. This bummed Elder Milo out bad.
On Saturday, we stayed in the flat most of the day and studied. In the early evening, we hopped down to the ward mission leader's home but missed the WML again. We talked to his wife, who said their son Josh wasn’t feeling well, in fact rather bad. She asked us to give Josh a priesthood blessing; I did the anointing.
Elder Milo is incredibly outgoing; he doesn’t seem to be intimidated by anyone or anything. So imagine my surprise when he told me that before he came out he was so shy that he couldn’t even order a hamburger at a fast food restaurant. In fact, he didn’t even speak at his farewell; he has a twin brother and the meeting was for both of them. He didn’t even show up to the meeting until the last five or ten minutes. The bishop asked if he would come up and bear his testimony but he declined.
After being out awhile another missionary pointed out that it was all just intimidation. Milo realized that he was allowing that girl behind the counter at the fast food place to intimidate him and that struck him as ridiculous. I wrote about Elder Sierra last week, he and Milo demonstrate that remarkable transformations are possible on a mission.
We had a zone conference on Tuesday up (or down, according to the locals) in San Mateo. If there was a theme it would have been obedience to the mission rules. I got up during the testimony session in the afternoon and talked about how I had committed to living the mission rules. I read 1 Nephi 3:7 -- "I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded. . . ." -- and then Helaman 10:4-5:
"Blessed art thou Nephi, for those things which thou hast done: for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments. And now, because thou hast done this with such unwearyingness, behold, I will bless thee forever; and I will make thee mighty in word and in deed, in faith and in works; yea, even that all things shall be done unto thee according to thy word; for thou shalt not ask that which is contrary to my will."
I then said that in the MTC, it was easy to live the mission rules, but when I got out here, I was timid of what others might think, so I have not been diligent in keeping my commitment to live the mission rules. I blamed myself for the lack of anything going on in the Palo Alto Second Ward. I considered breaking my commitment to be a transgression, and I apologized to President Douglas. I then committed with him to live the mission rules. I said that it didn't matter what others thought because I knew I would be blessed in the long run.
After I sat down, it occurred to me that some might think that I was brown-nosing, but mostly some missionaries told me that what I did took guts. My flat-mates said I did a good job. President Douglas thanked me and said that he knew I would hang in there.
Meanwhile, Milo is driving me crazy, trying to get me trunky. But I am looking forward too much to what lies ahead in the next 20 months.
Today was a hot one, the hottest since I got here. We played basketball this morning then went to the hills in Woodside to play nine holes of golf on the worst course ever. Seriously, there were gopher holes everywhere. Perhaps the shoddy grounds keeping explains why a group of missionaries was able to afford playing a round or two here. In my third ever round of nine holes -- the priest quorum played on a course in Park City two years ago as an activity -- I shot a 54 on a par 29.
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May 18, 1988
Things are starting to pick up a little around here. Tomorrow, if all goes well, I will teach my first standard discussion to Leslie. Woo Hoo!
Last Thursday we went out to check on some old call backs that we hadn't managed to get back to. The first was not interested, the second was not home, and the third was busy and asked us to come back.
On Friday we stayed in and studied. There does not seem to be much work to do; we could tract but the fact that it is typically fruitless is not very appealing. We could try to see members, but they are usually not home as both parents typically work. I can see Elder Golf's point of view, but he taught and baptized here. He had success here. The most success I have had is getting in off a door approach. I also have not had success anywhere else as this is my first area.
We did more studying on Saturday before going out in the afternoon. When we returned to our flat in the evening, we ran into a group of born-agains in the parking lot of the apartment complex. They saw us and pounced. The ring leader asked us how we were "saved." I answered by talking about accepting Christ as our Savior, repenting of our sins and being baptized into His church. I was interrupted and the discussion went off on the necessity of baptism.
"Do we need to be raised on a cross to die and be resurrected to follow Christ's example?" asked the ring leader. My companion answered, and when it appeared that he was getting the upper hand, the born-agains immediately changed the subject. The ring leader claimed that the Book of Mormon is false and said that “no man could add to the Bible.” He said that he had read parts of it and knew it was not true. He said that Joseph Smith was a thrill seeker.
When they changed the subject from baptism I just stopped talking, as I realized it would do no good. At one point, however, I was about to respond when Elder Milo stopped me. The discussion continued for a few more minutes between my companion and the ring leader, who kept changing the subject each time Milo started making a good argument. Then the born-agains claimed that they had to leave, but in a show of bravado challenged us to attend a revival the following week. If we had any guts we would be there, the ring leader claimed, but the location is out of our zone.
It rained on Monday, so we stayed in and studied. That night I followed Elder Able on my bike as he went running. As we were going along, a thought hit me: “The fact that I have learned so much here makes this a successful area.” Wow, what a true statement! I am not the same person that stepped off the plane in San Jose. I have learned so much there is just no way that I can list all the lessons. I have learned and I have grown. I have overcome challenges. In four months I have noticed a lot of improvement in my ability to communicate with others. But I am ready to move on to the next battlefield.
On Tuesday, we taught a new member lesson to a member of the Palo Alto First Ward who was baptized last November. After that, we hopped down to Corina to see Leslie, and that is when we scheduled the appoint for tomorrow.
I am having some mixed feelings. As I said, I am ready for the next battlefield, yet there is a small part of me that actually wants to stay here in Palo Alto. I want to see where the discussions go with Leslie, but outside of that I am truly ready to move on.
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