Week 70 – Elder Jones

Elder Dube, Zone Conference and the Trio

Monday was so crazy. I can’t even describe. Just trying to get all my stuff and a bed and everything in a small apartment. Crazy.

Tuesday:

It was a good day. I’m homesick for Gridley again. Oroville is cool but I just want to be back again. Back in Gridley with my members and my missionaries. The Zone Leaders are in the other district so I’m separated from my wonderful district.

It was a good day. Lots of good lessons. Having a car again is great. So far being in a trio is fun. Even with the zone leader that I went on Exchanges with and didn’t go so well, it’s been good so far.

We had an awesome lesson tonight with ***. He is in Oroville, but I’ve met him a few times. He got baptized a week ago and we went to share the Christmas initiative with him. We wanted his granddaughter to watch it too. But we got three other family members to watch it! And two of them said that they would sit in for the next few discussions at least! It was awesome. The Spirit was really strong.

Wednesday: Oh sweet relief! It felt so good to be back in Gridley most of the day. Even if I was inside. We went to district meeting and I was able to see everyone. All the missionaries. Felt so good to be back. But we had to leave half way through. We had to set up tables and chairs for MLC. That’s the monthly meeting for Zone leaders and Sister training leaders. I had to go to it because of my temporary companions being ZL’s.  The meeting was good. A member of the 70 is going through the mission and he led the meeting. It’s Elder Dube. He is from Zimbabwe and it’s hard to understand him. But he is really cool and likes to laugh at everything. So much energy. I loved it! Such a cool guy.

There was a lot happening in my ward tonight that I had to miss because we had a lesson up in Oroville. I’m trying to handle this and it’s really, really hard. I just want things to be normal again. So much stress.

Thursday:

Today was much better. I think I can do this. We got up really early this morning so we could be in Yuba City for zone conference.

Hey look! It’s Sister Thorum! Kylie Thorum from Alabama. She is friends with Addy.

It was half of the mission, twice as many as normal. Because if Christmas and Elder Dube. He taught a lot of awesome things and I got to see a lot of people. Cool quote: “Never give away a closed Book of Mormon.”  He said to always share a scripture or personal experience or give them an assignment as you even give away a Book of Mormon. He is very smart and very funny. What a cool guy. It was kinda cool being in Yuba again as usual. Felt more normal now that I end up there more often.

Then we went to dinner in my ward. Felt so good to see my members. Felt like home. Then we had a few minutes to see **** and the kids. They are doing well. Her daughter went back to her home for a while which is good and they seemed like they had been doing better. But the daughter comes back on Saturday😬

Then we had an awesome lesson with *****. We taught the word of wisdom. Everyone there taught by the spirit. The spirit led and guided a lot. **** loves his coffee and is definitely going to miss it. He knows it’s going to be hard. He is having a lot of faith though and he knows the Book of Mormon is true and is holding to that. He knows it’s a commandment of God even though he doesn’t see why it’s bad. Especially decaf coffee. But he has a testimony and sticks to it. Out of everyone I’ve ever met that is not a member, even within members, I’ve never seen anyone that acts so immediately and wholeheartedly upon promptings of the Holy Ghost. He is amazing.

So that was great. And spending the night in Gridley with people I love really got me re-centered. I went back to Oroville smiling and with a happy heart. It gave me hope.  We will be there tomorrow.  The Zone Leaders are making it so when they do their exchanges, I end up in Gridley for my district stuff and for my ward to be accessible to me. It’s been a lot harder than I thought it would be but I think I’ll make it now. As of right now, I’m happy because I’m starting to get some of it back. So I can do it.

Friday:

Not much today. Got to go down and do service at ****’s. That was great. All the district was there, at least most.  Some were sick. But it was great. Then weekly planning, which was great with three wards and dinners and all. Then contacting. Then dinner with the Wagner’s. Then ******* cancelled on us, we tracted then went home. Pretty uneventful day. But good because it was in Gridley.

Saturday:

Great day today! We had a lesson in the morning with some guy in Oroville that they’ve met with a few times. In the beginning if the lesson he told us he appreciated us but didn’t think he wanted to continue. By the end of it, he had tears in his eyes and said he would study the Book of Mormon and pray about it because he wanted to know if it’s true. He also said he would get baptized in he got a positive answer to that question. The Spirit was so strong and we were on the same page for all of it.

We had several other appointments and the rest of the day was good. Lots of fun. Tiring.

We also did today’s #lighttheworld advent day. I’m sure you saw it on Facebook.  The Zone elders said that President Ward overruled a little bit of what the Salt Lake City guy said and said we can post a little bit more than that. So I posted the Light the World video (which I was going to do anyways) and Elder Chatwin posted the water bottle thing. So that was fun.

Sunday:

Today was packed. We went to Oroville Sacrament Meeting at 9 am then went straight to my sacrament, then to YSA sacrament, then stake missionary correlation meeting, then to a YSA break the fast and the Christmas Devotional.  We talked to an investigator there. So we didn’t get out if church till 7:00 pm. Crazy.

The Christmas devotional was awesome! Loved the music so much. The talks were so good. I finally realized Christmas. I’ve always wondered why we celebrate Christmas more than Easter. Because Easter is when the Atonement happened which is the best part. Today I realized Christmas isn’t about the Atonement, it’s about God giving us the gift of the Atonement, and Christmas was when it was made possible and official. So that was a cool realization. Especially when you love Christmas as much as I do.

That awkward moment when a member asks you to have the missionaries live with him because his super less active 19 year old niece, that is super immoral is going to be living there and he wants you to turn her life around. 😬