Same area, new companion & new mission assignment

Elder Irvine is hereby called to serve as a full-time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Oregon Salem Mission.
 
Last week was a blur. Apparently we did some service for a couple different people on Tuesday, planned out our week on Wednesday, had a mission tour on Thursday, went to prison camp again on Friday, did more service and attended a crazy baptism in North East Portland on Saturday, sung in sacrament meeting at church for Father's Day on Sunday, and then I got a new companion yesterday...
 

The mission tour with Elder Scott D. Whiting was great! He explained how even though we should have a vision to baptize, we also must look forward when we are teaching, so that those we teach can have the vision to endure to the end and reach their fullest potential in the Celestial Kingdom with their families and Heavenly Father. We had a leadership training meeting right after lunch where Elder Whiting sat down with all the district and zone leaders to discuss how we could improve our leadership. He shared with us how we need to discover and more actively strive to follow the 'character of Christ,' that is, to be selfless.

All this spiritual preparation led us our final transfer meeting as the current Oregon Portland Mission. All missionaries in the entire mission were invited to come so as to have one last "departing transfer" with our mission president. He jokingly told us he would like to house all of us at the Mission Home for one night. President Morby made the final move for all of us, and we are now placed within the areas, districts, and zones that will be after July 1st splits our mission into three. The districts and zones are way different and all of us are pretty confused. It feels as though we are in limbo, but it's a super exciting time.

I traded in my two companions, Elder Clayton (who went home today) and Elder Harding (who is going to be Assistant to the President in the Washington Vancouver Mission), for Elder Dustin Hatch. Funny enough, we've been joking that he pulled an "Elder Irvine" the same way that he moved a whopping one area over from Cornelius to Banks. So we not only came into the mission on the same plane together, but we have been in the same district since January and we both had Elder Wohlleben as a companion before he went home. We're both confused that we were placed together as zone leaders, destined to leave the area and mission together in September unless the next transfer (on July 24th) changes something.


We're stoked to be together and we hope and pray that we can get coordinated quickly so as to go forth and serve effectively immediately. Prayers would be nice! Thanks so much!

A good and varied week

Did I mention that last Friday I went to prison? Haha. It was quite a fun time. It was my first time going, but apparently the FG Zone leaders go to a prison camp with low security out in the woods to teach people the gospel. I had heard of Christ going to preach to those in Spirit Prison, but I never thought I'd have the chance to teach to those in an Earthly prison. The guy we taught is a member of the church and we simply read and taught about the Book of Mormon. Just as Spirit Prison is, however, it seemed to be mostly a place of learning as opposed to those scary places you see on TV (though I'm sure there are those out there).

Last Monday, Elder Harding went on splits to play football, while Elder Clayton and I traveled on the Max with the Forest Grove District to the Oregon Zoo. It was rather fun, though, most of the animals were sleeping in the shade. Hey, it's what I'd be doing if I were them! It was surely an adventure though. This Monday, a Brother from our ward took us down to Newberg to meet up with the only other ZL trio in the mission to play a couple rounds of disc golf. It was a blast even though I never did manage to get the discs to go where I wanted them.

Tuesday, we helped a part-member family move down the street into our apartment complex in the afternoon, snagged a quick bite to eat and then headed to a meeting with the stake presidency of the Rainier Stake and President Morby. After the meeting, we got the opportunity to have a little more social sit down with President Morby at the Dairy Queen on the way home. I always enjoy chatting in a less formal setting with President Morby. He's like a mission dad for me. And speaking of miracles - it was a miracle that even though we got their right as they were about to lock the doors for the night, they let us in to have our ice cream. Tender mercies of the Lord, for sure! 

On Friday, I attended my first and perhaps my last Oregon Portland Mission Zone Leader Council.  

We had breakfast at the Morby's house as tradition prior to going over and discussing the needs of the mission, under the direction of President Morby and the Assistants to the President. It was neat to be able to hear and participate in the decisions that will take effect in the coming weeks.

At lunch, I got to see an old friend from Oak Hills, Sister Padbury! Yeah! After the meeting, we collected supplies to distribute from the Mission Office and then Elder Clayton had his departing interview with President at the Mission Home, while Elder Harding and I talked with Sister Morby.

On Saturday (or should I say "Service-day"), we started the day by having breakfast with some investigators and mowing/weedwacking their lawn and bucking some hay. Then we headed over to the neighbors to teach our other investigator, but since she wasn't there, we did some more service by assisting the members in cleaning up their back porch quickly before heading back to the apartment to clean up for the climax of the day: BAPTISM!!

I was honored to participate and attend the baptism of our investigator from Forest Grove 1st ward. She was so well prepared and I am grateful that she made the decision, the choice of liberty and eternal life through Christ. I am also grateful that I am so close so that I not only had the opportunity to attend the baptism, but I also was able to attend the confirmation in FG1 Ward the next day. What a blessing beyond words! I can't tell you the joy I feel (and I'm sure our investigator feels) in witnessing another child of God coming into the waters of baptism, promising themselves and God that they will follow Him and His Only Begotten. And as the pictures show, she had great support from the members of her family and her ward family.

So there you have it. Doesn't it seem like Heavenly Father loves me and all these people in Oregon? I know that He loves all of us, for I have seen it. I bear witness of it firsthand and I pray that you will know the same.

The Lord watches out for his own

Dear Friends & Family,

Our miracle adventures started last Tuesday immediately following the email update I sent. As we perused the Walmart, I overheard a boy ask his mother about us and she replied, "Oh, it's the Elders. They teach people about God..." As a missionary my ears are fine-tuned to hear every utterance of every variation of our name, it seems -- Mormons, Elders, LDS, missionaries, JWs/Jehovah's Witness (common mistake), Morons, and the list goes on. Elders, however, is a name usually only members refer to us by.

So after my curiousity was peaked and my "missionary sense was tingling," I slowed down and stopped to talk with her. It turns out she grew up with a friend who was Mormon and took her to church and seminary. Her son was super stoked to talk with us and upon our simple invitation, "Well, you said you liked church when you went with your friend when you were younger -- would you like to come again? ... Would you like to have us stop by and visit with you?" The reply was an enthusiastic, "Yeah!" from both the mother and the son.

Not only was it a miracle that we found her, but it was miracle enough that despite us shopping in the Walmart outside of our proselyting area, she just so happened to live a few streets down from us in Banks. We should just going to go shopping to find people to teach! Haha

Then later in the week, we planned to stop by their house to meet with them and unfortunately they cancelled. But another miracle occurred when we were visiting with our recent convert and the boy showed up on his bike in front of the house, appearing to be waiting for us. God truly does lead them to us if we are not already lead to them.

Almost every morning this past week we've attended a district meeting from each of the districts in our zone. Similar to how stakes and wards function, we oversee the work in each of the districts in our zone. It's pretty neat to be able to see the different missionaries in each area find creative and effective ways to move the work forward. It's also cool to be able to be trained and taught about the gospel other than on Sunday. As missionaries, we are taught every day!

In addition to our earlier miracles, we also were blessed by having several good referrals from members this week. Elder Clayton had felt inspired to contact a member at home in which he mentally wasn't attempting to. As we accidentally started talking with this member, she directed us towards another member who gave us someone to visit two doors down.

The conversation we had with the woman who answered the door started out like any other. Upon first glance, however, she looked vaguely familiar to me. She explained to us rather quickly that she knows missionaries and what we do and that she wasn't interested, though she loved the members she knows. As she started backing into her home attempting to close the friendly chat so she could get back to her life, she stopped and asked me, "Hey, you look familiar -- do I know you?"

After exchanging thoughts and information, we came to the conclusion that I had met her in one of my previous areas, Sunset Hills, at the Heywood’s (a member family). We were having dinner at the Heywood's that night and I had shared a Mormon Message (Civility Experiment) with them in hopes to casually bring up the gospel in conversation.

It's crazy how small the world gets just by serving a mission... The woman explained that she had previously fed the missionaries dinner and that she would be happy to have us come by sometime. I promised to make my famous peanut butter chocolate oatmeal goodies. What had originally started as an ordinary door we knocked on, became a blessing heaven-sent from God. No coincidence. We are placed where we are meant to be.

Since we now cover a ward and a branch, I split up with a Priesthood brother and went to the Vernonia Branch yesterday for church, while Elder Harding and Elder Clayton went to Dairy Creek Ward. I have never been to a branch before and I was amazed at how small it is. There wasn't more than 70 people there and only half a chapel with no benches, just chairs. Everyone was super friendly and excited to have a full-time missionary in the branch. A missionary was giving his farewell and I was asked to give a lesson on missionary work on the spot during Sunday School. I also met up with a guy I helped move out of Sunset Hills Ward. Small world!

Life is great and I'm lovin' it! Hope you are too!