Bail, bail, bail! (from the Palouse Ward)

This week was a gauntlet of pain. Every day until Saturday, I had a new thing ailing me. Each thing would only last a day, and then I would move on to something else. I had extreme fatigue, dizziness, inability to understand what was going on, the worst migraine I have ever had, and probably something else. But I am free now! What a strange week. I was actually excitedly looking forward to the next day like, "I wonder what will happen to me tomorrow?? This is sweet".

Every last appointment we had this week cancelled on us, mostly on the same day just an hour or two before we would arrive. It was a little disheartening to not be able to teach, but we still made it a good week. We got plenty of important administrative things accomplished. 

We were able to finish up working on a bike, and now it is up for sale. It was a lot of fun to do it, even though I didn't know what I was doing for the majority of the time. The handlebar wrap snapped at one point, and so I was able to keep the excess. *two weeks ago* I found the head of a rubber mallet. *four weeks ago* I found a sweet metal rod. *this week* I attached the mallet head to the rod. It was a near perfect fit. I then jammed it on as hard as I could and smacked it several times. I then took the pink wrap and wrapped up my mallet. It truly is a beauty. I'd show you if I had remembered to take a picture of it.

I was able to try a couple new foods for the first time! The first thing I had was kale. I wouldn't buy it for myself, and I certainly don't understand why others would, either, but it was still tolerable and I could easily eat lots of it without heaving. The next food I had was scallops. For those of you who are like me and didn't know what that is, it's those black oysters that stick to rocks at the beach. It wasn't bad at all! What a relief, because in the past, I have not enjoyed seafood. I actually really enjoyed it. It was in a tomato soup with shrimp and some other sea food thing. I don't know what the other thing is, otherwise I would tell you. When the member left the kitchen, I slid my shrimp into my companion's bowl. 

On my day of extreme fatigue, I fell asleep after I put clothes on after a shower. The door was closed because I was changing. About an hour later, still during the time we don't have to be doing missionary stuff, Elder Carson came and knocked on the door while calling my name. I didn't answer, so he came in and started saying my name. I still didn't wake up, so he started pushing on my foot. He eventually lifted my leg by the ankle and shook it for a few seconds until I finally woke up. I just opened my eyes full of surprise and cried,"What are you doing to me?!"

I had the opportunity to have dinner at a home where the woman is full japanese. I had a great time talking with her. It was so much fun communicating back and forth. I was so glad to see that I hadn't lost as much of my skill as I thought I had. Elder Carson joined in on the fun by mumbling loose Spanish he somewhat learned in school.

I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with an elder who is in his first transfer. This means that he is still in training. I was excited to take him under my wing. I got to train him during our companion study and also learned a bit from him as well. It made me hope that I would be training this transfer. I am being transferred to a city which is pronounced Quarterlane. I will be serving in two wards at once. This'll be interesting! I am excited to go see new people and trade my old problems for a set of new problems. Bring it on!

In our missionary adventures, I came across a large group of wild turkeys. I have never been on foot near such a gathering. I stood mystified while staring at them. Elder Carson said that they wouldn't gang up on me and attack, and so I chose to pursue them. Turkeys can move! I chased one turkey back and forth a couple times and then all the way down the road. I chose to administer mercy and let it off easy. All I wanted to do was catch it and try and take a picture, but I'll respect his privacy.

Anyways, I wanted to talk a bit about the plan of salvation. We have something amazing and many of us don't even realize it. I talked to one lady who had had two loved ones die and a third in the hospital. She was broken inside and had no light at the end of her tunnel. Life had just ended, and there was no moving forward. I couldn't let her wait until the next time she is taught, and so I bore my testimony. I promised her that she will see the ones she loves again. They will be together again. They are in a state of peace and rest, and they are watching over her now. We are blessed to have this knowledge. Jesus Christ suffered everything and then died so that we could all be together forever. It is synonymous with the plan of happiness for a reason. I know how difficult death is--I think I have experienced more than is common than someone my age, but in the moment, it is impossible to bear. Just turn to the Savior and remember the reason that you came to earth. You trusted Heavenly Father and knew all would be made right again. This earth life is so small in comparison to eternity. We will all see our loved ones again and all will be made right. Don't forget.

Rain lets up for a moment.  It's still cold out here!

Fancy dinner at the Japanese lady's house (thank you for feeding us!)

Missionary Work is tiring sometimes

Trials

This week was a bit of a tough one for me. Something weird was going on, and I became pretty off. I would occasionally have a bad headache, or my body would ache, or I'd be super tired, or I'd be a bit feverish. I got to go to the urgent care on Tuesday, where I was for the next three hours. They drew my blood to see if I have mono or something. I do not have mono. The results came back today (Monday) and they said I have a virus which can be responsible for mono, but they don't know what I have, so if I am still feeling off for five more days, I get to go back again. How exciting.

I had the opportunity to eat dinner at a restaurant with a member this week. Thai Bamboo! It was really neat. I have always had a love for the Asian culture, and so I was in a very good place. There was really sweet traditional music, statues, foods, and even Asian servers. It felt authentic to me. The only reason I wouldn't come back would be that all of the statues were topless... but other than that, I had a fantastic time. I even got to try a new food this week! Bamboo shoots! They aren't amazing, but I was glad to add it to my list. It was a very good dinner.

I was given the chance to play the piano for a sister missionary on Sunday. We practiced a few times and then we performed in sacrament meeting. She sang a song called "All of my Heart". I haven't ever heard it, but it's a nice one. It was fun practicing some new music and being able to perform. It was always one of my favorite things to do in church back at home, even though it didn't happen terribly often.

On Wednesday, we got to finish working on the bike we started on last week. I do not know too much of what I am doing, but I am enjoying the sense of fulfillment I receive from fixing something up by myself. I wish it was something I could bring with me back home, but there are many tools that I haven't even seen before which are necessary to do the job. At least I am providing service and learning some skills about how some things work. It is a lot of fun. The man who owns the bike shop commonly wears a badge which shows how much fun he is having. He always moves it to maximum fun when we come over. He is a great man. I think he has a facebook page for it called shacktown bike shop or something. If you can find it, you might see some pictures of me and other missionaries working on bikes. No guarantees.

 A tragedy happened to one of my investigators on Wednesday night. It reminded me of a tragedy from when I was a lifeguard at Seven Peaks. Because of confidentiality with that incident, I can't tell you too much. What I can tell you is, some man got a severe concussion, and it probably could have been prevented if I had been more vigilant. 

Anyways, I had kept that memory in the back of my mind, but the words of my investigator brought it back to my memory, and I fell into a pit of depression. It was really hard for me to feel ok, and I just wanted to curl up with a bag of chips by myself. The next morning, in my studies, I read Nephi's Lament, which takes place in 2nd Nephi chapter 4. He expresses that he is feeling really bad about himself. It hit me because I had a goal this week to be as tolerant and great as Nephi. I then read this chapter which implies that he had a really rough time in the past, but he never wrote it into the plates. I realized that Nephi, like me, was having a hard time feeling ok. When he wanted to be happy, he was weighed down with sorrow. It made me feel better to see that I wasn't alone.

I then went to watch some Mormon Messages. I came across one which I had never seen before. "Like a Broken Vessel." I didn't know it had the Son of a Man who means a lot to me in it. Seeing him made me pay extra close attention. I watched the entire thing and cried when I came across a part where a girl said something like, "God loves me and so it is worth getting help". I then prayed really hard to overcome these difficult feelings I was having. I took a shower, and then sat on my bed while listening to my music, still in the same emotional state. A song which I had grown fond of in the MTC came on, called "It's Good to Be Alive". I sat there, asking myself how someone could be so happy and sing a song like that. I then had a thought come to mind that I needed to smile. It was hard, but I forced myself to smile with teeth, all by myself in my room. I felt something change inside of me. I then started bouncing to the tune of the song, and then even playing the instruments in the air. In a matter of seconds, my mood had increased from a 0 to a 9 on the happiness scale. I was so glad that I had been healed by such simple means. This was an answer to prayers. God didn't want to just heal me instantly, so instead, he provided a means for me to work to overcome this. I am so grateful that He cares enough about me to show me how to feel better in the future. After all, like I said in the MTC, He cares about me so much that He helped me when I wouldn't help myself.

That's all I have for this week. Thanks for caring enough to read this!

Maximum Fun!

On our way to see an investigator

Hike.  Just DOOOO it

From the Thai Restaurant 

Drawing of Nephi on the ship

Subject

Back at home, I was under the impression that milk was kind of expensive. However, last week, I took the time to see how much milk actually costs. It's $1.98. Are you kidding me?! You better believe we bought two gallons of milk and one gallon of chocolate milk. We feasted like none other than kings.

One of the days, we were tracting at an apartment which bans soliciting. We don't solicit though, we just offer free service and teach people about Jesus. We knocked on one man's door. When he saw our name tags, he lost it and threatened to call the police. He also told us to not bother his neighbors, either. We left him and he went back inside. We knocked the doors underneath him, and he came out again and showed us that he was on the phone with the police. I decided it would be better to just leave, even though we weren't doing anything wrong. Lesson learned, when we go back, do not knock anywhere near his door.

My dad liked making me soft boiled eggs at home. When he did, he would do four at a time. I had a realization that I no longer had to be bound by such shackles. I cooked up seven eggs and it was marvelous.

We received one new investigator this week. He is a man who lives in a school bus in someone else's backyard. I felt really odd knocking on a school bus door, but he seems fairly interested, so I'll talk more about it later. All you need to know is, he is a pretty sweet guy.

I had one new food today! Brussels sprouts. It was actually grosser than I had always thought they would be. I ate half of one, then grabbed the other off my plate, hid it in a napkin, and threw it away an hour later at the church building. 

We received smart phones this week. I am actually really enjoying it. We have an area book which we record how lessons go with investigators, and it also has addresses and phone numbers and tons of valuable information. We have been working hard this week to put all of the information into the area book app on the phone. It is a bit tedious, but it is already paying off tremendously. When I received my phone, someone was like, "Whoa! You have like the most durable case there is!" I looked at the phone, put it on the ground, and then slid it across the entire gym floor. That missionary who witnessed it was appalled. There was not a scratch.

The stories written as a novel have returned!

"Look out!" A freezing chunk of ice flew past my shoulder. I ducked behind the snow barricade. Across the way were three enemy fighters, ducking behind their barricades. The space between was rightly named No Man's Land. "We need to move, this is too dangerous!" One of the guys cried.

I attempted to stand up and swiftly dodged another chunk of ice. The cold air sent chills down my spine. Two more projectiles were launched towards me. I attempted to move away and kicked a large boulder. I ducked behind the barricade and loosed it from the ground. "Grenade!" I picked up the 5 pound boulder and hurled it behind me. The cries of agony from the boulder striking resounded through the air. I threw a second boulder, resulting in more screams.

"They're down, let's move!" My friend commanded. We hopped the barricade and ran through no man's land. "Flank him!" One of our men ran around their barricade towards the last remaining man. The enemy attempted to escape and tripped over the barricade, falling right in front of my friend. He grabbed a large boulder and held it over his head while yelling.

"Wait, this is--"

I was interrupted by the cry of pain from the final enemy, now defeated.

My first snowball fight since elementary school. I didn't regain feeling in my fingers until an hour and a half later.

We were recruited along with the rest of the missionaries in the zone to sing at zone conference. I don't have much to say about that other than it happened, and it probably wasn't great.

I was reading my scriptures recently and decided that Nephi is awesome. He is just so strong and full of faith. He has helped me see that positivity is really a choice. Nephi was on a boat he had to fight with his brothers to build. He was tied up by his own brothers for the space of four days. His wrists and ankles had swollen up terribly, and no one could help him. He had a wife and kids who desperately pleaded his brothers to let him go. He never complained, though. He knew that the bad things which were happening to him would be for his good and that it would help his brothers. Once he was let loose, he didn't hold a grudge, and he stopped the storm which had almost sank the ship. It surely was very difficult, but he had the faith to remain loyal to God. I hope I can do that in the face of adversity, too. 

Fluffy Dog!

Elder Esser and I on exchanges

Elder Ruth

Notice swollen gland? Hurts bad!  Waiting for the nurse to call back

Zone Conference.  Elder Ruth is on the far right side.

Silly Zone Conference Picture

How Many Sneezes Can One Man Perform

On one of the days this week, we were having no success and were walking back to our apartment empty handed. I decided that we should stop at one more place before we return. It was an apartment where I was fully aware that the person had stared at us through the peep hole and then walked away, several times. This time, however, he opened up and gladly let us in. He said that he was very sorry, but he was doing it to see if we truly cared about him. He is a really wonderful man from Ghana, and he is very sincere. We addressed plenty of concerns and taught him about the Plan of Salvation. He broke my heart by asking one question in particular. He said, "Elders. I don't know if God wants me back. I think I chose to follow Satan in the pre-earth life, and because of it, I was cursed and born black." I couldn't believe my ears. I was so grateful that he said that because we were able to set him straight, and he was absolutely relieved. My only regret is, we realized that we can't teach him. He is considered a young single adult, and so we have to give him away to other missionaries. Story of my entire life.

On this same night, we made our way over and managed to have a second unplanned lesson with a guy who has a teaching record which puts all others to shame. Anyone who I've ever shown it to has dropped their jaw in disbelief. All you need to know is, there are two extra pages to describe all the teaching visits he has had since 2014. He is going to come to church for the first time this week. I later learned he is what is referred to as an "eternagator." As in, he will be investigating for eternity.

One day, while searching for the elect VERY FEW in the wonderful streets of Spokane, we came across a basin which had filled up with water and then froze over. We dropped a rock and it broke the edge, revealing an odd phenomenon. There were about three inches of solid ice, and then like a foot of empty space underneath the ice. We cautiously made our way onto it and saw it was solid. We then took a short break, running around the ice and sliding. It was actually a ton of fun, and I was glad that we could play around for a little bit. We then returned to being authorized representatives of Jesus Christ, sharing with people about how his church is back on the earth today.

While we walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, just like the pioneer children, I found a penny under a thick sheet of ice. I was so concerned, because it looked so cold underneath all of that ice, so I smote the barrier until I freed that poor penny. I carried it in my warm pocket all the way home and put it in a bag with many of it's friends. There's a message in there somewhere. I'll leave it to you.This email has that subject line because I inhaled some pepper and have been sneezing ever since.

This week was actually a bit of a good one. We normally have the majority of our people flake out on us, but this week, most of our appointments made it, and so we taught much more. It felt nice to be working with so many people as opposed to walking around the streets and having doors closed on us. I was so grateful that we had so much success.

Last thing. I was not planning on sharing my testimony yesterday, but one girl went up and talked about a scripture in Ether which talks about how faith is belief in things which are not seen which are true. I felt inspired to go up and share a little bit with the congregation as well. I talked about how Nephi was always setting the example for his older brothers because he hearkened unto his father. He was willing to put forward the faith and ask God sincerely if these things were true. Because of it, he received a witness and an unshakable testimony. His brothers never did this, and so they were unable to believe such miraculous events. 

This brings me to my point. Faith is not seeing. These brothers saw an angel and they still rebelled. You could see an angel, and if you didn't have a testimony beforehand, and weren't working on it afterwords, you could still easily fall away. I am grateful that when I was 14, I didn't receive some sign to prove to me that these things were true. If my entire testimony were built on seeing some pebble on the ground move, I could easily be swayed later in life. I received a witness of the truth only after I worked for it, growing my faith and proving that I truly wanted to know for myself. If you don't have that testimony, try your best to obtain it, because it will change the way you see everything. So there's my week.

Cooking delicious dinner while wearing my man apron

Fixing a sign at the bike shop

Mastering the chopsticks my way cool aunt gave me straight from South Korea

This guy here?  He's pretty awesome.

Lake of glass

Photo Dump

Elder Ruth had issues with the computers/camera over the past few weeks and today he was able to send pictures!  So this post is going to be a photo dump.  Enjoy!

Volunteering at the bike shop

Practicing for a Musical Number

Pretty Kitty!

Came across this one while out tracting

So we built our own Snowman

With the Sister Missionaries

Made a turban out of a scarf we got

Elder Stewart wanted a picture, too

We help this lady often.  She's pretty neat.

Elder Ruth and Elder Stewart

Turkeys wandering around like they are all that

Christmas FaceTime!

Christmas Facetime!

Selfie at Christmas

Elder Ruth and his Delsym

Ramon Notes! *not to be eaten*

Christmas Treasures.  I don't recall glove-guy-name.  (Accidentally) got 2 ornaments, Mario figures and Helaman

Drawing of the violin

Speaker from Santa!

Cool looking dogs safely behind a fence

Christmas Loot

Not happy with the snow

Behold: snowy roads, again!

Pit Bull loves Elder Carson

Went to Walmart and couldn't decide which soaps to buy so he got them all

Can You Rebuke The Cold?

We like to do volunteer work at a bike shop each week. It's a ton of fun, and we are also helping a ton. We have painted walls and cleaned things up, organized, and even fixed up a few bikes. The owner recommended his friend to us, who needed help moving. She called us up saying that he was ok with us helping her instead of him that day, and so we headed over to go help. Things were going great, and I even drifted perfectly into our parking spot. It was beautiful. As missionaries, we have become masterful movers, and so we were beautifully stacking the woman's goods in the moving truck. She requested that we be very careful with her flat screen tv. One of the other guys was trying to strap it in with bungee cords, but leaned over and put his weight on the screen, shattering it pretty bad. I have to say, it does look really neat when it is turned on. It's kind of like glimpsing into God's beautiful creations within the universe. I felt really bad that it happened. We are working on trying to replace it for her.

Because Elder Carson is a district leader, I get to go on companion exchanges every week. I don't enjoy it too much because it involves me packing up a bunch of stuff and unpacking frequently, but I did have a good exchange this week. I got to go in unprepared to teach a man about the Word of Wisdom. I imagine many of you don't know, so I'll share a story I have in regards to the Word of Wisdom. 

The past two summers, I worked as a lifeguard. The training to become one was a lot of fun. Saving people is something that I enjoy. There is a part of the requirements that I struggled with, however. You need to be able to tread water for two minutes with your hands out of the water, no floating on your back. I am perfectly capable of saving people, and was able to help a few in my career, but this was a challenge that was impossible for me. I had spent much time asking everyone I could for tips, searching up YouTube videos, practicing, dreaming, and wasting my life away to figure out how to do this. I could only tread water for a bit longer than one minute. Any longer than that and I would sink through the water and drown myself--if I didn't have my arms to support me. I am unsure why, but my first year of life-guarding, I was allowed to be a lifeguard anyways. This year however, they refused to let me work unless I could pass this dumb test. I drove over and attempted a few times and was distraught at my disability to accomplish this, since I loved my job and I took it seriously. 

I then recalled a talk given by President Monson on the Word of Wisdom. For my final attempt one week into the life-guarding season, I said a prayer before hitting the water. I said, "Heavenly Father, I have never broken the Word of Wisdom. I have had the chance to in the past, but I refused. I have been loyal to it, and I need the blessings that come from it. Please help me, I need to do this so that I can earn money to serve a mission." I then entered the water with faith that I could do it. It was difficult, and I didn't obtain infinite strength, but I went from my personal best of one minute and ten seconds to over two minutes, treading without hands. That gap is far too big to be justifiable as my own strength alone. To this day, I am grateful for the blessings which come from following the Word of Wisdom.

There has been much snow falling from the skies of Spokane Washington, and it has wreaked havoc in it's inhabitants. Because of this, we have been called to shovel many, many driveways. My strength has leveled up from so much shoveling, especially since our shovels are terrible. It has been rough, but I am grateful that I have been able to help make a difference in these people's lives.

One day, we were tracting out an apartment building and we came across a less active woman. She is in her 40's, and hasn't been to church since she was 13. She now has a nine year old son. Elder Carson had a lesson with her while I was away on exchanges. Because of this lesson and the wonderful support of the ward, she was able to come to church this week, and she brought her son along with her. Reactivation doesn't seem to have the same luster as baptizing someone, but it very well should be. Her son is likely to be baptized soon, so I guess you could say that this week has gone pretty well!

That's all I have to share for this week. Thank you to all of you who have been supporting me on my mission thus far. It may seem like a small gesture to you, but it means the world to me.

Happy New Year!

I received a text from Washington with the caption Happy New Year!  After looking at the number and then the number on the sign, I realized they were the same.  A massage?  They got a massage at this time of night?  The person calls me and from what I can gather, his companion doesn't know how to walk in the snow and tweaked something so they were there to get some help.  Payment?  Scripture and prayer.  The gentleman reports that Elder Ruth is doing well and if his companion is careful, he should recover nicely.  I am grateful for people who watch out for our missionaries and take care of them when needed.  And grateful for pictures!

Update:  companion hurt himself lifting tons of logs lifting with his back.  Then when playing basketball, he hurt it going for a layup.  So they saw this nice guy who fixed him up good, only to have him biff it hard on the ice at the end of the night.  Poor Elder Carson.  Get well soon!!