Monday- today was P-day, and so we sent out or emails and such in the morning, then went to try and blow some miles so they down lower ours for the month. So we drove to the university and walked around and took some pics! After that we grabbed lunch and then went and got some shopping done for the week. After that we went home, changed and went out and walked a nature trail by a river for a while! We found frogs, a few fish and a salamander!!! After that we went to dinner at a members house. They are older couple, but avid fishermen so he was showing off his collection of things! After that we visited this family in the trailer park... And it was interesting to say the least! Wonderful family, just a bit out there! But that's okay! Still great people haha!!!
Thursday- crap forgot to write the past few days, it's been so busy frick man hahaha! Today was slower, because we took a 2 hour trip to Portland to do a session in the temple!! They ran out of room in the vans, so Adams and I had to use our miles and drive out there... It was fine tho we had more than enough and still got plenty left over! It was super fun, that temple is way cool!!! Apparently Summer Watson works there, and heard I came! I didn't see her, but I will keep an eye out next time I get a chance to go! On the way home, we took three other elders from our district with us and we partied all the way home! After that we got back about 4:30, went and taught a lesson to an older lady who is really progressing well in the discussion, but not quite ready for a baptismal date! But she's very receptive and we got our first sit down lesson with her, which is big! After that we had dinner at a members home and they were pretty chill! After we got home, we did weekly planning and studied up for district meeting tomorrow!
Friday- in the morning we had district meeting, which was fun! After that we went out to lunch with two other sets of elders who we are pretty chill with. We went to some local burrito joint, and it was pretty good for a "in the middle of Oregon burrito" haha! After that, Adams and I went home and prepped for some lessons we had with some investigators. We taught two sit down lessons, one with this guy named Jonathan ( a different guy than before) and another guy who I cant remember his name, but they are both pretty interesting people! Jonathan's a "devout" Catholic, but during our talk today mentioned things contrary to his devoutness, which we found interesting for sure haha! He mentioned the last elders to talk with him really pushed him for things he wasn't ready for yet, but said he let us talk with him because we have a different presence about us, that doesn't seem "threatening". The next guy we talked to said the same thing. And the lady we taught the day before said the same thing. I think that's why we're having such success... We're being real people with genuine care for who we talk to. I don't know the elders before us but I guess they must have been focusing on numbers for the area book by the sounds of it. It sucks, because we have to mend that relationship with the people around here, but it's still good work!! We're really getting known in the area, people see us in the street and wave at us, which is huge! We went from getting "hail satans" and "F offs" to "HEYY MISSIONARIES WASSUP" and " ELDERS COME HERE I GOTTA TELL YOU SOMETHING COOL" in a matter of 2 and a half weeks! That's what we wanted so bad! If people know you and realize you aren't these white shirted robots, life in the mission gets so much easier hahaha!
Saturday - wow today was weird. So we got up, did our normal stuff, but we forgot a few things in the week to do (weekly planning and companionship inventory) so we stayed a bit longer in the house than we usually do, but we got everything done! We then went out to contact some trailer park people and then tract the last few streets of it. Our contacts were... Well grouchy today for lack of a better word haha. So we started tracting! 90% of the houses were misses, and then we got one hit. After we got home, we decided to splurge a bit on dinner (it was just us tonight). We thawed a salmon steak, started an open fire in the backyard fire pit and got to work! I made an marinade out of soy sauce, brown sugar and a few other seasonings for the salmon, let it sit and soak, then threw it on the open flame! Adams cut some potatoes and then fried them into seasoned chips while I did the salmon in the back. The salmon cooked a bit slow, but when it was done.... Wow it was the most amazing salmon I have ever ate. It had a nice crispy glaze from the smoke (we used pine wood) and the center was moist and flaky. It turned out freaking amazing. Over an open flame too holy crap we're going to do that more often! So our dinner was super good. After, we headed into the city for a meeting with the president. Adams wants to go to his last area for a baptism, but it's a bit far so we wants to talk in person with him. We drive in and apparently there was a mix up, president thought it was Monday, we thought it was tonight. We pulled up and no one was home so we called and then rescheduled for tomorrow evening instead. So then we drove all the way back haha and now we're getting ready for bed!
Sunday- normal day at church today, but we had fast Sunday and we both got up to introduce ourselves and talk a bit about it! It was really good! After Sunday we met with some members, and went and "chastised" a investigator on date for not getting to church;) but we did it out of love so its all good hahah! After, we had dinner with a bishopric member, and they live up on a hill overlooking the whole town and a bit of the lake. They only have been there for a month in that house so we went on a tour of their property and its crazy freaking nice. After that, we had an interview with president Russell. Adams has an investigator he got close with down in Lakeview, and he wanted to go down to baptize them. Since its wayyyy far away, adams wanted to ask in person. We went there, and 40 minutes later adams walks out with the biggest smile on his face like "WERE GOING TO LAKE VIEWWWWWW" so were going in two weeks to Lakeview somehow... It should we way fun!!
Thursday- crap forgot to write the past few days, it's been so busy frick man hahaha! Today was slower, because we took a 2 hour trip to Portland to do a session in the temple!! They ran out of room in the vans, so Adams and I had to use our miles and drive out there... It was fine tho we had more than enough and still got plenty left over! It was super fun, that temple is way cool!!! Apparently Summer Watson works there, and heard I came! I didn't see her, but I will keep an eye out next time I get a chance to go! On the way home, we took three other elders from our district with us and we partied all the way home! After that we got back about 4:30, went and taught a lesson to an older lady who is really progressing well in the discussion, but not quite ready for a baptismal date! But she's very receptive and we got our first sit down lesson with her, which is big! After that we had dinner at a members home and they were pretty chill! After we got home, we did weekly planning and studied up for district meeting tomorrow!
Friday- in the morning we had district meeting, which was fun! After that we went out to lunch with two other sets of elders who we are pretty chill with. We went to some local burrito joint, and it was pretty good for a "in the middle of Oregon burrito" haha! After that, Adams and I went home and prepped for some lessons we had with some investigators. We taught two sit down lessons, one with this guy named Jonathan ( a different guy than before) and another guy who I cant remember his name, but they are both pretty interesting people! Jonathan's a "devout" Catholic, but during our talk today mentioned things contrary to his devoutness, which we found interesting for sure haha! He mentioned the last elders to talk with him really pushed him for things he wasn't ready for yet, but said he let us talk with him because we have a different presence about us, that doesn't seem "threatening". The next guy we talked to said the same thing. And the lady we taught the day before said the same thing. I think that's why we're having such success... We're being real people with genuine care for who we talk to. I don't know the elders before us but I guess they must have been focusing on numbers for the area book by the sounds of it. It sucks, because we have to mend that relationship with the people around here, but it's still good work!! We're really getting known in the area, people see us in the street and wave at us, which is huge! We went from getting "hail satans" and "F offs" to "HEYY MISSIONARIES WASSUP" and " ELDERS COME HERE I GOTTA TELL YOU SOMETHING COOL" in a matter of 2 and a half weeks! That's what we wanted so bad! If people know you and realize you aren't these white shirted robots, life in the mission gets so much easier hahaha!
Saturday - wow today was weird. So we got up, did our normal stuff, but we forgot a few things in the week to do (weekly planning and companionship inventory) so we stayed a bit longer in the house than we usually do, but we got everything done! We then went out to contact some trailer park people and then tract the last few streets of it. Our contacts were... Well grouchy today for lack of a better word haha. So we started tracting! 90% of the houses were misses, and then we got one hit. After we got home, we decided to splurge a bit on dinner (it was just us tonight). We thawed a salmon steak, started an open fire in the backyard fire pit and got to work! I made an marinade out of soy sauce, brown sugar and a few other seasonings for the salmon, let it sit and soak, then threw it on the open flame! Adams cut some potatoes and then fried them into seasoned chips while I did the salmon in the back. The salmon cooked a bit slow, but when it was done.... Wow it was the most amazing salmon I have ever ate. It had a nice crispy glaze from the smoke (we used pine wood) and the center was moist and flaky. It turned out freaking amazing. Over an open flame too holy crap we're going to do that more often! So our dinner was super good. After, we headed into the city for a meeting with the president. Adams wants to go to his last area for a baptism, but it's a bit far so we wants to talk in person with him. We drive in and apparently there was a mix up, president thought it was Monday, we thought it was tonight. We pulled up and no one was home so we called and then rescheduled for tomorrow evening instead. So then we drove all the way back haha and now we're getting ready for bed!
Sunday- normal day at church today, but we had fast Sunday and we both got up to introduce ourselves and talk a bit about it! It was really good! After Sunday we met with some members, and went and "chastised" a investigator on date for not getting to church;) but we did it out of love so its all good hahah! After, we had dinner with a bishopric member, and they live up on a hill overlooking the whole town and a bit of the lake. They only have been there for a month in that house so we went on a tour of their property and its crazy freaking nice. After that, we had an interview with president Russell. Adams has an investigator he got close with down in Lakeview, and he wanted to go down to baptize them. Since its wayyyy far away, adams wanted to ask in person. We went there, and 40 minutes later adams walks out with the biggest smile on his face like "WERE GOING TO LAKE VIEWWWWWW" so were going in two weeks to Lakeview somehow... It should we way fun!!