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

News from Elder Irvine

HOLY HILLS! Our area is going to be a workout on bike for me. Super super hilly. You're either biking up or down, not really any in between. Haha.

Elder Ball and I are working hard to get me acquainted with the ward auxiliaries and members from both wards. We've been traveling about and though it's a bit overwhelming at times, it's so cool to be able to get to meet and know so many people! Both wards are very large compared to my last ward, so I have nearly quadruple people to remember and work with -- and that's only the members! We don't really have any investigators or less actives that we're actively working with, but we're doing our best to find, find, find! Pray that people's hearts will be softened and open their doors and lives to us. This gospel literally means "good news" and is nothing more than "glad tidings of great joy" to those who are receptive to our message. So help us love these people by praying for them just as we do!

This ward is really great at organizing ward missionaries they have called and we go out on splits with them every Wednesday and Thursday evening. A young RM that returned within the last year from his mission went out with me this last Wednesday and we were able to street contact into some people. Their car seemed to be steaming from the engine, and although neither of us knew anything about cars, we offered our assistance. Haha. We didn't do anything to help them with their car, but luckily they were parked at home and so we asked them if we could come back to teach them more later, to which they agreed. The RM asked if they knew anyone who desperately needed an uplifting message about Christ and one of the women raised her hand. Haha. So we scheduled an appointment for later this week. Pray that we can follow the Spirit to help them come to Christ!

Pretty nice digs.  And clean, clean, clean!

Tools of the trade in hilly Portland.

Promising "golden" contact.

A new companion and a new area

On Saturday, we found out that Elder Pelham is training a greenie and I was leaving to a bike area. I was pretty nervous, though this transfer was much less ulcer-inducing than other ones I've been in. I loved working with Elder Pelham and we did work hard for those six weeks together. I was happy to get pictures with lots of the members and people I've been working with in Moreland, and the Ward seemed happy with the work we had done while I was there. So that's good. I love them a lot and it is hard leaving them. I'm excited to go back for the few baptisms that we managed to set up before I left, so here in a few weeks I should be going back to see some of them again.

I went from South East Portland to North West Portland. I am in the Cedar Mills Zone, Five Oaks District - Oak Hills & Sunset Hills Wards with Elder Brayden Ball. It's the first time I've ever served over two wards and honestly it's a bit overwhelming. I am praying super hard so that I can acclimate well to both of the wards equally. It's a very humbling experience to get up and move to a completely foreign place with no one I know (except for one or two others in my District). I know it's right for me and it will help me grow, however. I feel like I've been prepared by the Lord to come here, so all you hills, here I come! So far of what I've seen of the area, and as the name implies, it is very hilly. It's mostly suburbs and big roads interconnecting them. Our apartment is pretty big and pretty nice compared to my previous apartments. Best of all, the Mission President is in our Ward! Unfortunately he's "less-active." Ha ha. No, just kidding. But he does move around the mission a lot, so I don't think we'll see him that much.

I'm super excited and ready to work. Pray that I can become acclimated quickly so I can help the people here! Love you all!

Elder Brayden Ball & Elder Irvine, new companions, and Elder Peterson & his new companion, Elder Pelham.