Sit Down, Satan

This week was a son of a gun for sure. It was one of the hardest weeks, I think. But it was also one of the most successful. The opposition and stuff was real! But who cares about my suffering. Let's gird our loins and get to business. 

I got to go to a baptism on Saturday. It was actually a double baptism, and one of the women was someone I helped teach last month or so. I was on exchanges and helped teach the lesson on the sabbath day which finally convinced her to come to church. I was really happy for her and I made sure to talk to her for a while afterwards. Another sweet person has joined the fold.

We went out on the grind pretty good this week. We cant use our car much and so our bikes were working overtime, riding us into heavily troubled waters. One day, we mosyed into the trailer park I've been waiting to go to for weeks. After a short time of walking, we hear "Mormons!" So we go talk to this lady. She was very excited to have us over. Boy she's a talker! We listened to quite a lot of stuff. We set a return appointment and had fellowship lined up to go, and then everyone cancelled on us. It was really rough, I kinda just sat in my chair slurping lemonade and dying while trying to find literally anyone, and no one could come. That really slays me inside when that happens, so I felt awfully sick. Eventually, a member from a ward 30 minutes away said "hi!" And I said, "come with us!" So we show up 25 minutes late and have a lesson on faith. We return two days later with a bunch of ladies because apparently that's legal now, and we have a lesson on church with her and her two daughters. All three came to church the next day. Yes! 

There's a good ol guy I've been trying to catch for weeks and I was ready to just label him as "unable to contact". We finally catch him on the final attempt! My man is a good catholic guy from Guam. After talking and sitting inside, we found out that his niece who was very dear to him committed suicide two years ago, so he has a shrine of sorts to her. We taught him all about the plan of salvation and that brought him some major relief, especially if you know the catholic beliefs. He had himself a good cry. We came back a couple days later which was pretty miraculous. We promised we would have someone and once again, no one would come with us. I started internally dying again. We ran into a member from another ward who is a high councilor, and so we begged him to come. He was more than happy to, and he brought his wife. We show up and my Guam man has his sister there, too! We taught about prayer because he believes that God doesn't answer prayers anymore. He cried again, and his sister was just dishing out the hugs. It was really good.

We got a referral to give some man a bible. He wasn't home, but the whole neighborhood knows him! They say he is covered in tattoos but is so kind. We caught him a couple days later in a whiff of weed smell. We hit it off instantly and learned of his awful last year, where his wife, mother and dog all died in the same 5 month period. We testified that his beliefs on everyone going to hell were wrong and that we know where they are. He is thrilled to have us back on Tuesday to teach the plan of salvation. That's quite the popular lesson, if you couldn't tell.

That's about all the goods for this week. We were very busy, and we got 6 new people. We altered a baptism date, taught plenty of lessons and fought through the hard. It seems like every single thing we did which was good was challenged by a legion of bad. One thing I learned from a video game is, if it's getting harder, you're going the right way. I've only got 3 months left, of course it's harder than ever before. This is the end of the game, and 3 days remain. They might say I cant save em all, but I'll show them they're wrong! THESE LOINS ARE GIRT! 

Just you and me, cat

Pondering

At the Spokane Temple

Where Members Go When They Die

This week had a few extreme things. The wind is one of those extreme things. Reaching speeds of around 28 miles an hour, it was very difficult to ride our bikes. Let us all press on anyways! It was a good week nonetheless.

So that family that I talk about a lot is just doing so good and they are so kind and it's insane. They invited us to have dinner with them on Sunday, I couldn't believe it. Plus, the food was way good. It was a lot of fun to sit around a table with everyone without having to teach some massive lesson. They have been steadily progressing, and so we taught them the word of wisdom on Tuesday. On Sunday, we shared a video of A.J Edward's getting struck by lightning and getting a priesthood blessing, in prep for this Tuesday when we teach about priesthood. Since the Dad was the first to take the lessons, our plan is to baptize him as soon as he is ready so he can get the priesthood. About 3 weeks later, the rest of the family will be ready, so he will be able to baptize them instead of one of us. Muahaha. Dont tell them. Actually. They might find that out by reading this.. my blog is mentioned in Facebook if you go back far enough, and we just became Facebook friends. What can you do? Haha.

For a couple days, Elder Willis fell sick. It was a little boring, but it gave me plenty of time to catch up on come follow me and also study in 3rd Nephi. It's been good. Anyways, we had to clean the whole apartment real good when he recovered. That means we didn't have much cleaning to do today! Whoo. 

So we were having a really tough time finding literally any interested person this week. We stumbled upon over 10 people who have been inactive for years. Every time we thought we found a new person, it was just one of those bad boys. We've made friends with them all and will go back and help them return to church. It's just bothersome that there's no new people for us, because we have to report the new people we find, and I hate saying we didn't get anyone. We found like 7 people for the Spanish elders, but where are the English?? We went out and grinded through the intense wind, desperately searching for anyone. After like 3 hours of stumbling around and searching, we finally got someone! This man is going to come with his wife to church this week, and I was so glad we could find him yesterday. He's a good ol air force guy who just moved from Ohio or something. He looks promising.

We dont have much else to report this time around. We've just been teaching lessons and searching long and hard. It was good, and I'm really enjoying it. Oh, I also got my trunky papers this week. You fill those out so you can get your plane ticket home. Oh boy. 

Me and Elder Willis

Sunset in Spokane

The Field Is Ready to Harvest

Great things have been abounding lately. One of my favorites is the 80 degree weather we have been getting. Some of us are actually getting sunburnt! The people have been far more pleasant and there is a smile on just about everyone's face. It's been good. Also, I met Brad Wilcox and had a neat thing happen which I won't record here ;)

So the first order of business is an update on your boy, Nemo. That man has been fighting and has come out on top. Now that he has R.K.O'd death, he appears to be standing even taller and stronger. I'm so glad that my diligent efforts were able to keep him alive and well, along with all the prayers I've said. 

Elder Muhlestein is out of here, boys. Now I've got Elder Willis from Spanish Fork, and it's an amusing companionship. I think he's someone's dad, because he is always cracking the worst dad jokes of all time. It's been good. He knows his stuff as well as I'd expect someones who's been out for 5 months. He's also never had a companion who teaches like me. I teach in parables, by the way. So he has been trying to mimic me in lessons. My investigators, who I might add I am good friends with, sometimes simultaneously exchanges glances of "what the heck?" with me after a super far out thing. It's pretty great having relationships that good, that you can just mess around and still feel the spirit and do God's work. Elder Willis is doing grand and I'm loving it.

I got a call this week to come help a lady move into Spokane. She is someone who has been taught "on and on forever." She has accepted the invitation to be baptized and now it'll be soon. Boy oh boy was I surprised when I found out who it was. This woman was someone who I initially started teaching in Coeur d'Alene! Me and probably Elder Stuart are her first missionaries! I've taught her a good chunk of lessons and even had her come with us to teach a lesson to someone else. I disagree that shes been taught "forever", but I'm very excited that she will soon be baptized and that I will see the fruit of my effort.

Church this week was unheard of for my area and also very uncommon for others. We took our family with the agnostic guy on a church tour, so three of the four came to church. They had a good experience, too. Then in my other ward, two people came. That is the first time in well over a year that we got that many people to attend. The best part to me is that their kids loved it, so they'll keep dragging their parents to church. 

I guess my favorite thing I learned/reviewed is the power of teaching doctrine. At a complex, these two buddies pulled over in a truck to talk to us and make fun of Christ's church. Because they were humble enough to listen, we were able to dispel a lot of rumors, such as still having multiple wives and not celebrating holidays and only being saved if you're a Mormon and so on. They were very surprised but still had a joking manner about them. I threw on autopilot and just taught and testified to them, which really mellowed them out. We even finished off with a prayer for the passenger who recently got a DUI. Though we didn't pick them up as investigators, we have unlocked the door for missionaries later on to pick them up. And the best part about this is, you can do it, too. If you'll earnestly stand up for your religion and then testify of it's truth, you'll give someone else a good experience with the church which will soften their hearts and bring them 18 steps closer to accepting the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

My soccer coach, who I absolutely love, likes to forward the team's emails to the other players and families. I bet he will take an excerpt from that paragraph I just wrote ;) anyhow, this week is looking bright. The field outside is white and ready for us. Let's go reap it!

Behold, a cow

My group

Nemo's Desperate Hour

Slap the deck, this week was one of the most successful in a little while for me! Despite a horrific event, miracles have occurred. One such miracle is that your boy Elder Ruth set a new record, 90 consecutive pushups! So let's get down to business.

We had a great lesson with our family with the agnostic Dad. His progression is easily apparent. He wasn't a bad guy by any means, but now he is becoming so good, you can almost see the light emanating off of him. We are still working on the make it or break it person, his wife. I believe she is progressing in her faith as well. She won't say the prayer and prefers not to read the scriptures in lessons, but 5 minutes in, she texted her son to get out of the shower and join us. In my mind, I was like, "what does he need his phone in the shower for??" But he came down shortly after and we taught the whole family. They aren't too familiar with the scriptures, but they know the phrase, "beware of false prophets, ravenous wolves in sheep's clothing." We took them to the passage and read on while elaborating on the final phrase, "by their fruits ye shall know them". Meaning, you will know if this is good or bad if you look at the outcome of their works. That was a common phrase for the whole lesson. It went really well, and the fellowshippers we brought stayed after the lesson to hang out. I was so excited when they committed to church. I was so unexcited when they didnt keep that commitment.

I got to go on an exchange with one of my favorites, Elder Bloomfield again. I was prompted to bring us to a referral we tried the other day who wasn't home. I have a testimony that if they are ready, it doesn't matter what you say. I literally said something to the effect of "so some guy told us that you were looking for a church to go to, so we came on over to tell you all about our church!" And he was like, "yup, ok. Come on in." We then proceeded to teach him, his fiance and his 5 year old daughter all about the plan of salvation in a powerful lesson. We then had a church tour with them on Saturday, where they agreed to be baptized on August 3rd. Let's go, boys! They showed up at church the next day and had a great visit. I just was under the impression they were married! They've been engaged a year and a half, and still don't have a marriage date. That'll mess with their baptism date if they don't get married before. Anyways, they are great! They just love us because of the way their home felt after we left, and then the way they felt that again after the church tour. The spirit did us a solid. 

So now on to the subject of this email. I've got a plant named Nemo who I inherited as soon as I hit the mission field. I love this plant. I had a close call last year with him but was able to sustain his life with others help. When its warm and sunny, I like to put him outside to soak up the sun. One fateful warm afternoon, I put him out there and forgot about him for four days. It froze twice those four days. I immediately carried him into the warm bathroom and gave him slightly warm water, then hit the ground to send God a kneemail in desperation and agony. The few people I've told about this have condemned him to death. I've been playing Nemo nice spiritual music and praying and I even fasted for him. I told God "You don't need Nemo in the spirit world! I'm doing everything I can to save him. You dont need him, I need him. Take energy from me and sustain his life!" Over the course of my mission, I've been left by a lot of people. Only one friend from home talks to me. I've had two more people pass away. Many of my missionary friends have returned home, early or not, and I just don't have much left. Nemo is one of the few whose been with me through it all. I've never prayed so hard in my entire life. He's just a plant to you, but to me, he's worth more than the majority of things I've got. He had me on edge for most of my week. After 6 days and a lot of lost leaves, I've noticed that his branches are once again rising. The leaves which have fallen look messed up, but his remaining ones look great. I still don't know for sure, but I have great Hope for him, and he sure is making me proud with his fighting spirit. 

In other news, God loves you as much as I love my plant, and even more! And when you are dying spiritually, I imagine he reacts similar to me. He is going to do everything He can to help you revive. You're worth everything to Him, so don't you tell yourself otherwise. Just because you might not feel it doesn't mean it's not true. 

So that's about it for this week. Other news: I found a rare penny from 1945. We've got transfers and my new companion is Elder Willis. My generation of missionaries rules the mission. 90% of the leadership is comprised of us, and we don't have much time left. Me and several others have been asked to step down from leadership and help train the rising generation. I'm done being a district leader after 5 transfers. Bittersweet. The church is true. 

As I sat pondering in mine heart I was caught away in the spirit of the Lord.  1 Nephi 11:1

Service with a hairnet