March 16, 1988
Things may be looking up. Yesterday, we committed one of our investigators to hear a discussion on Friday. Finally! I'll get a chance to teach a discussion.
Last Wednesday night we had President and Sister Douglas up for dinner; we fixed sweet and sour chicken and cashew chicken. It was great. We got the idea after an apartment dinner where we made the first dish in our wok. It turned out great and we thought, "Hey, let's invite President and Sister Douglas!"
The week before the dinner, we sent a menu to our mission president who, apparently, hates broccoli with a passion. Everything on the menu we sent had broccoli in it, to include items like sparkling broccoli cider, broccoli sherbet and cream of broccoli soup. When Sister Douglas handed President Douglas our fake menu she said "Here honey, look what we're eating." He looked at it and said "I don't believe it!" She then let him off the hook. They both thought it was funny are are going to put the fake menu in their scrapbook. They thought the real menu was great, too.
The next day we had my first zone conference up in San Mateo, at the Hillsdale chapel. One thing that was talked about was the idea of expressing love on door approaches. The last couple of days we have tried that, and it is hard. Love is an important part of being bold or, rather, if you are not loving, you are not only being bold but you are being overbearing. If you are overbearing you have no right to be heard.
President Douglas spoke about the mission goal for 100 baptisms a month. Last month we had close to 80, the month before that we had 60. He said that 100 baptisms should be a minimum, but we have yet to reach it. He then made an analogy of a baseball player who has hit a home run; he knows he can hit home runs and so he won't try for just a base hit; he will go for the home run because he know he can hit them.
The conference ended with a testimony meeting which was powerful. A few days earlier I had gotten my hair cut by a member; she asked me how I wanted it and I said, “shorter,” and she then gave me a buzz cut. Some of the missionaries at the conference made comments, so when I got up to bear my testimony I said, “About the haircut, I only asked for a trim.” The whole room erupted in laughter. I can still see Elder Fox's face as he busted up laughing and, of course, President Douglas laughed the loudest.
On Friday and Saturday, my comp was sick, this time with the flu. On Friday morning I went out with Elder Fox, and we came very close to teaching a first discussion to one of his and Elder Lima's contacts; unfortunately, she was busy cleaning her house, so it didn't happen. So close, yet so far.
At lunch the zone leaders came and down and we finished off the leftovers of the sweet and sour chicken and cashew chicken. In the afternoon, I studied. I studied all day on Saturday.
We got out tracting on Monday morning. In the afternoon we had an appointment with Fay. She had read the first scriptures marked in the copy of the Book of Mormon we had given her, up to about page 65. She thinks it is all a bit like the Old Testament. She said that she is not interested in changing her religion as she is happy being a Midianite.
Fay is incredibly busy as a midwife, particularly this time of year, but we set up a return appointment for the middle of April. We are praying that the Book of Mormon will really get to her. She said that she believes it is true, that she has no problem with it. Midianites, apparently, believe in continual revelation, too. We are praying that as she reads the Book of Mormon that it will touch her heart.
On Tuesday we went on team-ups with Elders Fox and Lima. Fox and I tracted a street that used to be in our area, but is now in theirs. We got one call back.
This morning we had a zone activity. We had breakfast at the stake center on Valparaiso Ave. in Menlo Park, and then had a car wash. After that, we went to a park and played a game of capture the flag, which was fun.
After that the four of us went "thrifting". There are quite a lot of thrift stores here and a favorite pastime of missionaries in this mission is to go "thrifting." I found a suit for $12, that almost fits, but it could use some alterations. A suit bought at a thrift store is called a "thrifter," and a lot of the elders out here have at least one.
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March 23, 1988
On Thursday morning, we were out on our way to see one of our contacts and we saw some Jehovah's Witnesses, who also happened to be out and about. Our contact was not at home, and on our way to our next stop we spotted the JWs talking to one of our ward members, so we circled back to bail him out. As we walked up to his doorstep he was saying, “I don’t know of a scripture that supports my beliefs but I’m sure there is one.” Then he saw us, “And I’ll give you two Mormon Missionaries.” They turned around and just freaked out when they saw us. "No, no," one said, "we don't want to talk with Mormon elders." They gave us and the member a pamphlet and beat a hasty retreat.
On Friday, we had a teaching appointment set with Lloyd, our only investigator. We showed him the video How Rare a Possession, but didn't teach him a discussion. As we watched the video the spirit was very strong, and I prayed in my heart that Lloyd would feel it. I don't think that I have ever prayed as hard for someone as I did then. I wanted so much for Lloyd to feel the spirit.
Before we started the video, he told us that he was Catholic and would probably stay that way. He just likes to have us come by and talk with him and he's not really very interested in changing. He hasn't read any of the passages marked in the copy of the Book of Mormon that we gave him. He was recently in the hospital for a heart operation, so this was the first time I met him.
Also on Friday, I finished reading the Book of Mormon for the third time, the first time on my mission.
On Saturday, we went on team-ups with the assistants to the president. Elder Baker and I tracted a street without success. We did talk to a physically handicapped individual -- he had been in a drunk driving auto accident. We told him that his body would be made whole in the resurrection. His response was that Christ was dead, which is his problem with Christianity. We testified to him that the Savior lives.
In the afternoon, Elder Golf and I stopped by to see a graduate student that he and his last companion had tracted into. He had read the passages in the marked Book of Mormon he had been given, but to him it seemed more like a novel than scripture. He confessed that he had had so many things going on that he couldn’t get into the proper frame of mind. We encouraged him, when school is out, to sit down as read the Book of Mormon when nothing is really going on.
On Sunday, we had a dinner appointment after church, it was good. I studied in the morning and started reading Truth Restored. In sacrament meeting we had another homecoming, this time for a son of one of the counselors in the bishopric. We had a good discussion in Gospel Essentials class during Sunday school.
We didn’t get any work done on Monday. Elders Golf and Lima were busy filming videos that they are going to send home. Golf made a huge, staged mess in the kitchen and living room and then came out with the video camera and complained about the geek who had messed up the apartment. Naturally, he had to clean up after he finished filming.
I finished reading Truth Restored, it is a short book, but it was great. I loved it; it gave me such a sweet feeling that is hard to describe. I felt so much empathy for those early saints, and great joy as they rose above their trials. I also got a little homesick reading about the church in the Salt Lake Valley.
On Tuesday afternoon, as we were heading out, a man waved us down. He told that that he had been fishing down in Santa Cruz, when some men stole his wallet and siphoned his gas, leaving him just enough fuel to get as far as East Palo Alto. He needed some money in order to get enough gas to get to his home in Concord. I gave him seven dollars, which he said that he would pay back, and we did give him our address, but I wasn't really concerned with the money. It felt good to help out, and who knows, maybe we planted a seed.
As we were talking, this fellow told us that he had concluded a year ago that there is a God. This happened when his wife ended their marriage. Since then, he has been getting into religion just a little.
After talking to this man, we headed off to see a contact, only to find that he was not at home. Then we took a long bike ride down to Corina to see Leslie, a lady that we had tracted into a few weeks ago. She was busy, so we gave her some pamphlets. Slowly but surely; slow and steady wins the race.
Today, we spent a few hours driving around Palo Alto with Elders Fox and Lima. Golf, Fox and Lima are making videos to send home, and we hit all the sights in East Palo Alto, Palo Alto and on the Standford campus. Each time we have gone over Highway 101 into East Palo Alto, Fox has done his airline captain routine and asked us to roll up the windows and lock the doors. All over downtown Palo Alto are some clever and even humorous murals.
It was kind of a waste of a good P-day, though I did get some good photos. I think this video making has also been a distraction from the work that last few days.
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