August 12, 2013

So a lot has happened this week last Monday afternoon we went to bend for zone conference and exchanges and I learned that it is a lot hard to stay awake for the two and half hour drive when you are the passenger especially when you can only listen to church music and then when we got to bend we went to this food service supply store called cash and carry. I thought costco sold in bulk but this place put it to shame I saw the biggest bottle of sweet baby ray sauce I have ever seen it was huge. Then after that it was dinner so we went to find a place to eat and after calling some of the other missionaries in bend, by the way there is four sets just for bend, we settled on this little taco shop and I had a massive burrito which tasted great anyways after that we went to the zls apartment to unpack for the night the aps also were staying in the zls apartment we had to bring in some mattresses from the garage to accommodate all six of us, but it was way fun. then the next morning we had zone conference and as we all woke up we realized that we had a big problem zone conference started at eight and all 6 of us needed to shower and get ready before then so elder johnson and I after seeing that we were going to have time to shower there ran over to the dls apartment and showered there and then went back to the zls to change unfortunately everyone had left and despite our asking for them to leave a door unlock we found the doors were locked and all of our church clothes in the apartment so after calling the zls and finding out they were in the middle of a car wash as we had car inspections that day and would not be able to be back at the apartment for a while and we didn't have time to wait we found the swamp cooler which stuck out of the window and pulled it out and then I climbed in through the small opening in the window and ended up inside and upside down and I'm sure it looked hilarious two missionaries in pjs breaking into an apartment especially when I started to climb in head first and all you could see were my legs but we got in and made it to zone conference in time. zone conference it's self was great my mission president really focuses on first developing a vision and then strategy and tactics so we learned a lot about that and the culture he wants to develop in the mission as we are a combination of two different missions opm and oem and our slogan is "build upon the rock" so our whole culture was focused on the gospel of Christ and living the higher law or as the president likes to say the more excellent way in regards to our rules and how we act. I don't think I've met a single person who doesn't love our mission president he is definitely a spiritual powerhouse. After zone conference which ended at 6 I went on exchanges with my district leader elder Palmer. we went to his wards assistant ward mission leaders house for dinner which was great by the way breakfast pizza covered in hot sauce and then we discussed what the ward needed to do to be successful after which when Elder Palmer noticed the sun setting around eight he asked if I had been to the butte and I said no and the next thing I know we are rushing to the butte as fast as we can before the sun sets and basicly it was this tall narrow hill that from the top you could see all of bend and it was incredible especially because there had been a lot of fires so the sunset was a deep red, pictures on the way and after the sun set we went to an investigators house and talked to them is was two sets of young couples living together and the one girl was investigating and her boyfriend was sort of also investigating they were interesting the two girls were nice and the one sorta investigator boyfriend greets us wearing a shirt with atheist written in big letters and the back had some sayings about why its best to be atheist. Apparently the girl Sarah had all the lessons and was coming to church but didn't want to be baptized because of the church's stand on homosexuality which is not a question easily answered and honestly the more I learn about and teach the gospel to others I've learned that God works through small and simple means and usually the simple answer is the best and so if any of you have questions or concerns on certain aspects of the gospel and still don't feel comfortable with the answers given by the leaders of the church I invite you to find your own answer by the simple means of prayer which may sound like the generic answer but just as we have to pray to know if the gospel is true we also should pray to know if those certain doctrines  are true and I can promise you that if you ask with sincerely with real intent wanting to know for yourself that God will answer you and that is the only way you will ever be able to have a testimony of any doctrine. after that we went back to the apartment and got ready for bed and as we are getting ready Elder Palmer pulls out a cello and says pick a hymn so I pick my favorite and he plays it with no sheet music or hymn book and he goes pick another and I say another favorite and he plays that well this continued for a while until I ask if he's memorized the whole hymn book and he says no so I said well then how are you doing this and he can play by ear very very well the next day we did a service project went to eat and then thursday we went to lunch with the zls at an Indian place and as we are waiting in line this guy who is finishing his meal asks us if we are meeting with anyone or if we are by ourselves and we say that we are by ourselves and he hands us two 20 dollar bills and says lunch is on me we  thank him and as we talked to him briefly the zls recognize him and after he left they told us that he was a less active member and his brother was a bishop or something like that but his kindness really humbled me as I being an active member and a missionary probably wouldn't have done the same thing if I were in his shoes. Well time is running short so a little bit about the people of burns they are all mostly super nice most are farmers or ranchers everyone waves and knows everyone and news travels super fast, most own animals which I now know how to catch sheep but that's a story for another time. The church is true the power of prayer is real.