The field is not greener on the other side, it's white and already to harvest

Also to put you all at ease for later, I'm fine, on antibiotics, but fine. I read somewhere you need a
good hook so they keep reading

Also it is long because everything is new and exciting

In answer to last weeks question, we need to repent of anything that pulls us away from God.

The new questions is what does God do all day? (Sorry to all of my fellow missionaries who know this already)

MTC Saturday

I left off on Pday, I went to the temple which is always a great experience, I will admit I wasn't feeling great on Saturday, I think I had a cold, so I studied Lehi's Dream mostly [i.e. fell asleep] , but I keep learning new things every time I go, and the celestial room is always a nice peaceful experience, I can't wait to go to the temple during my mission. 

Something cool we did in class afterward was we learned how to get referrals [asking people if they know anyone that would like to learn more about Jesus]. Share the message of the restoration and rely on the Spirit that brings to help them get excited about the work. So we went out and practiced on the tourists. We went out, talked to them and asked who on their lives would benefit from the gospel. As a class in an hour we got 40 referrals. And this was the FIRST REAL MISSIONARY WORK WE DID WITH OUR NAME TAGS. Because we are all member missionaries. 

We were talking about science sometime and that got me really excited and Elder D nerded out and I think we lost everyone. I think it was physics related but regardless it was weird to talk about something other than the doctrine of Christ.  

MTC Sunday

Sunday was yet another great day, Elder C and I taught priesthood [Sunday class for men] and we took up the whole 50 minutes, and we had everyone's attention that I could see. We talked about Apostasy and the Restoration. Heavy topics one is depressing, the other is something that has affected millions of lives for the better. But we were up to the task. 

Sunday was also the day that I threw my MTC swipy swipy onto a roof, pictures included, you can see the name and picture so everyone will know who is a dolt.

The Holy Ghost was talked about a lot on Sunday so here is some interesting facts about the Holy Ghost. When you are in the presence of the Holy Ghost you are in the presence of a member of the Godhead, someone who hangs out with God and Jesus A LOT. Which is sorta cool when you think about it. He is sorta like Ringo Star (tentatively the drummer of the Beatles) a famous member of a famous group. He just gets over shadowed by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. I also came up with an actual analogy for The Holy Ghost, he is like water, you can feel it and even be surrounded by it, but unless you internalize it, (drink the water or receive the gift of the Holy Ghost) you will wither away (physically or spiritually). Also a nice thought, to share the gospel the Holy Ghost doesn't need a body, he has mine, he doesn't need a voice, he has mine, I hope that I will always be worthy of the Holy Ghost.   

And all of that was before an Elder Holland talk that overshadowed the Sunday evening devotional by a wide margin. I keep looking for all of these amazing MTC devotionals on lds.org to share with you guys but I guess you have to be at the MTC to see them. Which is a shame because they are awesome, yet another reason to go on a mission. I think the talk was called "missions are forever", yet but regardless it had a lot of good quotes, and messages. One message I really liked was his point that we will NEVER have this experience ever again. The circumstances in our lives will never be the same. So he warned us "DON'T WASTE IT".  He also pointed out that we have the same calling as the Apostles so this is as close to being an Apostle as we ever will get, he even called our work apostolic, lowercase. Not Apostolic like him, he made the difference very clear. He said know is not the time to be normal, now is the time to spread the gospel. He compared us to the apostles in Jesus as day we need to drop our nets (everything) to serve the Lord. He also that our success is directly proportional to our obedience. To illustrate his point he explained that you can heat water to 210 degrees Fahrenheit and not got any steam, just a few degrees, a seemingly small thing makes all of the difference. Thank goodness I'm not too rebellious of a teenager. 

A couple of funny lines he said were, "in prehistoric-history...wow think about that one" which was quite funny because of the paradox it presents, as well as he was referring to himself in that line of thought. He also exclaimed if something is repeated in the Book of Mormon it must be important because how was it made? "WITH METAL PLATES AND AN ICE PICK". He also advised that those who think about their return are not really focused on the Lord and his work.

Then he talked about the conversion of Alma the younger, he was a bad boy and his world got rocked. It says in the Book of Mormon that he was visited by the angel "which caused the earth to shake upon which they stood" but Elder Holland asked "In downtown Zarahemla, did the windows rattle? It doesn't matter because his [Alma] life was shook", and he was converted, so Elder Holland challenged us to "GO OUT AND ASTONISH SOMEBODY". We " have more authority than any parliament, cabinet, prime minister, president, king, SO ACT LIKE IT". I love Elder Holland, we were talking about how in the women's broadcast they don't have any fire and brimstone talks so to speak, like we get in priesthood, but the sisters got a good dose of it here. For those of you who need some good old fire that Elder Holland brings to the table watch this, it's a bit long but it's good.

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2011-10-3010-elder-jeffrey-r-holland?lang=eng

He also made a great point about why missionary work isn't easy if is so important to the Lord? 

Because the Atonement wasn't easy

For those who want a shorter video

https://www.lds.org/media-library/video/2014-07-006-the-hope-of-gods-light?lang=eng

You never know what effect your invitations can have so INVITE. I'm calling you guys to repentance. That IS my job after all, to invite others to come unto Christ.

MTC Monday Eclipse Day

Monday was weird for multiple reasons...

There were no sisters in our district because they had already left for New York, which means they got out in the field earlier than us :(. It was just weird, there was nobody to balance out all of the testosterone. 

There was an eclipse, pictures will be included, but it was really cool. The
sun looked bright as normal to the naked eye, but if you looked through these sunglasses on steroids, you could see an orange orb. Also the color scheme of the world was like way off, like if you didn't know there was an eclipse you would think your eyes were busted. 

We did this cool thing where we went to a bunch of murals with quotes next to them, and we went and found scriptures that taught the same principles in the opposite book, Bible and BoM, and it was cool how they supported each other and taught the same doctrine. We also learned that the Spirit trumps awkwardness in contacting.

Also we heard some good jokes such as...

 Why did the Nephites have to eat off the ground? Cause Mormon hid all of the plates

There was also a statistician joke, two hunters and a statistician went hunting, they saw a deer and shot at it, one hunter missed five feet to the left, the other 5 feet to the right, the statistician yells "WE GOT IT"

So we practiced door knocking with a teacher and it was quite a time, he stopped us halfway through the lesson cause we were so awkward, he did it for all of the companionship so we were not alone. One of the things that stood out to him was how disjointed the conversation was, what happened was we were talking to him and I asked a bad question and so I was panicking so I passed off to my companion Elder C and bless his heart he sensed my panic or something  and he panicked and so after just meeting this man he starts sharing the gospel at him and he was like WOAH what just happened, and I was like, NOOOOOOOOOOOO. But we learn from our mistakes.

Tuesday Travel Day

We had to wake up at 2 with our district because they were leaving an hour before us, and they are not quiet, we said goodbye and that was it. Me and Elder C ended up being the only ones awake, and no one said goodbye to us as we left, :(. It was fun being up with no one around cause the MTC is always full of missionaries. 

When our bus passed through the MTC gate everyone started cheering. Missionaries sure know how to have simple pleasures. It was weird to have Elder H not talking about money, you used to be able to summon him by just saying "stock market". I will miss those crazy conversations.

I also noticed that they had the whole get the missionaries to their flights down to a science, they told us about ten steps to get there right as we left the bus and then they were like "have fun storming the castle". I also learned that droll is a very good word.

I learned from multiple people that I need to be me because the Lord called me to this very specific place so I shouldn't be a robot. Apparently California doesn't have enough strange 18 year olds so here I am.

Nyenti's email reminded me, two sisters in my district were from saint George, one dude who came out with me is from there.

The flight out was nice, we were in the back by the engines and it was SO loud some guy in front of me stuffed the napkin you get with your drink in his ears. But I napped just fine, when we arrived we met the mission president and his wife as well as the AP's. We then had really good home cooked food when we got to the house and we relaxed the rest of the day. The last time in a very long time.

We went to a pretty park called Prospect Park and set some goals for our mission, that was really nice. We also told by the mission president that attitude decides altitude. Which is some deep stuff. They also said if you love your parents pay attention while driving so you don't die.

Wednesday in California

The 23 was a big day we had our new scrubs, training and learned our trainer and area. I have been blessed with Elder B as my trainer, and we are in the Hallmark area. Elder B is from Beaver Utah has two younger brothers and raised roller pigeons, they do backflips in the air. He has been out to a little over a year, and he is the District leader. So Sunday night was long, I ended up eating a large quantity of tortilla chips. Anyway Hallmark is the stretch of the San Bernardino highway from Devore to Moscoy. The bishop is a really cool guy who is excited for missionary work. He is the owner of an amusement park.

The first thing we did is we went to our apartment and I discovered it has a pool,
boooooooooooooooooo. We also went shopping to tide me over till today and I dropped a gallon of water on the floor and it exploded everywhere. Then we got a text from an investigator who was dropping us. But I got some blueberries to go with my cereal so it was all okay. It was weird not having mom peering over my shoulder to make sure I bought the cheapest stuff. Also 6:30 doesn't feel that early anymore.

Thursday in California

My second day someone committed to baptism which was nice, it was mostly Elder B and his previous companion, I just showed up at the right time, we also found two conservatives living next to each other, IN CALIFORNIA, it is a crazy world we are living in.

We were down in Muscoy doing service, I think I got bit by a flea but I thought nothing of it, and afterwards we see a man walking down the street with a chihuahua (no idea how to spell it), in a stroller. Speaking of dogs, if you like them don't go on a mission here because you have no idea if the dogs are nice or attack dogs, they are big and they bark alot. As of right now I am a BIG cat person, at least with cats you always now that they think humans are there minions.

We have a Richard Sherman [Famous Seattle Seahawk football player] in our records and the ward missionary said "that name sounds familiar", I had to hold back from saying how about Tom Brady? Also we met a lady named Dolores and we started talking about it's meaning. Dad can you find Via Dolorosa, the song that we sang in choir that one time and send it to me?

Preceding knocking on the door of Dolores, we prayed to know if we should knock now or try getting more information from the referral, Elder B had a talk about being prepared like boy scouts come to mind meaning, we should try to prepare more, but also Jesus would go up and knock and get to know more by talking to the person. So he exclaimed, "Jesus is more reliable than the Boy Scouts". He is one profound companion. 

I also met a member who's friend talked and acted like crow from MST3K but he had never heard about it, but the member was a movie buff so he knew all about it.

Saturday in Cali - exploding arm

Saturday it was a bit humid, we played ring around the car with a lady who was washing her car and didn't want to talk to us. We also learned that cops are highway pirates, they can take your money and even kidnap you. I love polysci majors.

We were doing our 12 week study at the church when we noticed that my arm was a bit red. Upon
closer inspection the area around the bite swelled up and made pretty much a humongous zit on my arm, the worst part was that coming away from it there were three red lines following my veins that came together into a big vein and it was up to my elbow. So we went into a urgent care, and got that checked out. Apparently it was a staph infection from the bite, and so I was lucky enough to get a shot in my posterior, and I am now taking antibiotics. I am fine though.

Sunday - Stay out of Jail

Sunday was crazy because we had a random family show up again, according to Elder B, so we caught them and have an appointment with them. Also the father of a family of investigators who is sorta holding them back from coming to church walked in halfway through the meeting and sat down and listened. I knew it was exciting because my companion was freaking out.

This week we have been house cleaning the records, trying to find whether people actually live there, we went to this one address, the guy was like nope he is in jail, we apologized and said that we were just checking the address and he said, well his address is now in Folsom. I don't want to come home and find anyone I know in jail, so keep it clean out there.

In church we talked about overcoming the world and instead doing what Christ would, there was a good quote, "Overcoming the world is not one defining moment in a lifetime, but a lifetime of moments that define an eternity".

Elder Bearman

To whom it may concern, I can now tell you the status of the oranges

Service down in Muscoy California

It is great to help out others

Tick bites are bad news

PS

A couple of things I forgot, since I was rushing to finish since we were leaving the Wi-Fi, our most reliable Wi-Fi is at McDonald's.

Also we taught this really cool family, Mikey who is 8 got baptized the Tuesday I arrived, he is one awesome ball of energy, his sister and dad are members but the mom is not. It is hard for them to get to church since both parents are starting to feel their age.

We also have taught another family, the one Michael is the dad of, the mom is less active, and the grandma is super active. We have been trying to get them to come to church, but they stay up super late (sometimes into the morning), and it is hard for them to come to church at even 10, none of them are even older than 12. Also the girl always asks, "when can I get baptized, and we have been trying to link going to church, but like any 8 year old, she forgets or maybe doesn't pay attention to the time, I never did as an 8 year old.

My striking conversation with anyone foolish enough to be outside while we are walking somewhere skills are improving little by little. According to my companion, I need to be always smiling (my resting face is a frown), be loud and enthusiastic, be sincere, and look them in the eyes, my eyes just flit around the room. I will be a changed man when I get back, confident, tanned (of the farmer variety), and smiling. At least that is the goal. 

Also we washed a car, and I was in charge of the spray gun, it was FUN