Another new companion

(On Saturday) after a long day of waiting and deciding that Elder Ball wasn't going anywhere for this transfer, we got a phone call telling us that Elder Ball was going to a car area. Bummer!! I'm going to miss him. We have had a lot of fun working together. I'll continue to send pics as usual, but it's good to note that they won't be as cool without Elder Ball's assistance and his cool camera skills.

 

So Sunday I proceeded to schedule appointments with all the Auxiliaries of the Wards so that whoever my new companion was going to be can meet them. Now we have a full week - awesome!!!

That evening we stopped by some members Elder Ball wanted to visit briefly. We had another Tongan food experience (they always feed us! they're so awesome). This time we had food I can't even pronounce. It was kind of cool that you mentioned having cooked bananas, Dad, cause that's what they served us this time. They tasted like potatoes. Ha ha.

 

Monday morning we went and played soccer and had breakfast as a zone. It was a fun way to end a transfer. One of our Zone Leaders went AP (Assistant to the President). He's a great missionary and knows how to give great compliments and has a positive attitude.

 

Now I'm with Elder Tomonori Baba. He was originally from Japan, moved to Chicago when he was 10 years old, then to Montana, and then went to school at BYU in Provo for two years before coming on his mission. He's been out 7 months roughly and this is oddly only his second area he's been in. He spent his first 7 months with four different companions in Seaside - one of the coveted areas in the mission right off of the coast. Ha ha.

 

Elder Ball and Elder Irvine with their new companions.

 

Two 6 week companions in a row is a little saddening in terms of building and separating friendships so quickly, but I'm glad to be with Elder Baba

Missionary work isn't all tracting!

On Friday evening we had the opportunity to go do a service project. A newly moved in member called us up and had us come over to help clean up his friend's backyard. Both the member who called us and the two nonmember friends were blind. The Elder's Quorum President in the Ward also came by and after assessing the situation, he gave a few people a call and in no time we had 6 or 7 men working away at the yard. It was all finished within about an hour. It was super neat to see the Priesthood pull together and serve so willingly - I mean it was a Friday night after all.

 

The nonmembers friends were very grateful and they even helped take a couple pictures. Haha. They took better pictures without any sight than most people do with sight (with some assistance in positioning the camera of course). They were really nice and even had brownies and lemonade prepared for us afterwards. Elder Ball and the Ward Mission Leader and I stuck around a little bit afterwards and taught the Restoration in conversation after talking to them a bit. My testimony continues to grow of how effective service, then teaching really is. An Elder in my district once said, "They won't care how much you know, until they know how much you care." It's so true.

Elder Ball and a few other Sisters in the Relief Society got together and played a beautiful rendition of "Beautiful Savior" on violins (accompanied by the piano) in Sacrament meeting yesterday. It was funny how Elder Ball got volunteered for the part in the first place - a few Sundays ago I was singing a few hymns to myself while handing out programs to those coming into the chapel. One of the Sisters complimented my singing and asked if I was a singer. I replied that I am no singer, but I do like to sing for fun. She mentioned that she was the Ward Coordinator for musical numbers in Sacrament Meeting and wondered if Elder Ball and I would sing a duet one Sunday. I chuckled and turned to Elder Ball to ask. He was openly opposed to singing, but he said he could play the violin. So one thing led to another and there we had a trio playing a beautiful hymn in Sacrament Meeting. Haha. It's funny cause I somehow have got out of singing... for now. Haha

An inspiring (and exhausting) 4th

From Elder Irvine's email this week:

On Tuesday we had a cool experience. Right after we were finished with District Meeting, as we were walking out to go to lunch, a man came into the church building and expressed that he needed some help with gas expenses for his car. Our first inclination was to call the Bishop to see if the church offered any gas tokens or something.

So while I was calling the Bishop, Elder Ball took out a $20 and gave it to him. This wasn't any old $20, either. The preceding day, somebody had stopped us (pretty sure he wasn't a member, either) and asked us if we had lunch yet. When we replied no, he handed us a $20 to our extreme gratitude. It was a miracle that Heavenly Father blessed us with the means to help this man. But that wasn't even the half of it.

The Bishop made contact with his wife at his house (he was currently at work) and had her come pick us and the man up to go over to his car which was parked in the local Safeway parking lot. When we arrived, the Bishop's wife pulled out 6 gallons of gas in a few gas containers and we used it to fill up the man's car a bit. These weren't any ordinary gas containers either!

The Bishop's wife told us how just the other day the Bishop and her went and filled up these gas cans for their lawn mowers. The Bishop's wife couldn't figure out why they needed 6 gallons of gas, however. The Bishop told her that honestly he didn't know either, but he figured it was good to have some in storage. "Who has 6 gallons of gasoline in storage? Isn't that dangerous??" Ha ha. It was yet another miracle.

I was hesitant at first to help the man simply because of today's societal beggars, but we discerned by the Spirit that this man was sincere. Elder Ball helped me to confirm this as we discussed the event afterwards. I don't know if we'll ever see the man again, but it made me feel good nevertheless - Take that for a Spiritual confirmation!

Then we had a super fun 4th of July! I ran in the Oak Hills fun run (FREE! Yeah!) which was 4.7 miles. It took two laps around the Oak Hills neighborhood loop and then one last little loop around an adjacent street and back. I have only been running here and there in the mornings over at Sunset Track, and so I think I nearly died trying to keep up with the Priesthood member I was running with - he's run a couple triathlons and said that this race would be a good warm up for his run he was running on Saturday! It was really fun, though. Call me a masochistic, but I really enjoy running! Plus I designed and created a t-shirt about 30 minutes before the race with a couple expo markers. Ha ha. It was pretty sick. Check it out in the pics.

The work, the play, the rewards

I baptized Caroline on Saturday!! I was so nervous at first because of some mix ups with the address of the church and then I also forgot my baptismal clothes. Thankfully everything worked out despite my inadequacies. Ha ha. It was so cool to baptize someone that I've been laboring with for the past several months - all of which began with just simple acts of service and kindness. She is a wonderful woman. I love her. I'm so happy that the Gospel has blessed me and my family enough to have gotten me this far and has allowed me to share that happiness with others. It was so nice to see some members of my old ward there too. I miss them like crazy, but I look forward to getting to know my new wards better. 

It has been a bit a of a slow week, but we did lots of unplanned service for people we came across. I've now mowed the lawn in proselyting clothes a second time and Elder Hendricks (ZL) and I went to do service for a couple less-actives when he was here on Friday. The exchange went well and he taught me how to have more casual, open conversations/lessons with people. I hope to be able to teach people more comfortably.

Elder Ball isn't much of  a runner, but we do bike over to the Sunset High School track a few mornings a week and I run a mile or two. I've loved it. It's getting more and more beautiful now that summer's here (despite a few gloomy set backs here and there). The mornings are the best and it feels great to wake up my body to some good old running. Plus, this week, on the 4th of July there's a neighborhood 5-mile race, which I'm excited to do! This holiday sounds fun - we are encouraged to spend time with the members if we can't schedule any teaching appointments, so it'll be kind of nice.

I am striving to be a better teacher, finder, and missionary every day. Yesterday was a bit of a drag - my first Fast Sunday with 6 hours of church across the two wards - but I am choosing to be happy, and am relaxing and enjoying the work as I go. It's been so much fun the past few weeks. I pray that with the new investigators we have found and will continue to find, we will be able to bring them closer to Christ by our teaching and serving.

I love you, all! Love, Elder Irvine