Week 79 Letter

Corona round 2 transfer 2 week 1

Email date: Jan 13, 2014

All.

Transfer calls came in, I'm staying here with Elder Wilkinson, on bikes *Sigh*.

 

This last week was pretty good. We have a new investigator named Ariana who is living with a member for a few months. She's taken the discussions in the past and we started teaching her again this last week. She also came to church this last Sunday. It was a pretty good lesson.

We also had a lesson with the Nomura family. They are a little frustrating. They would seriously be the perfect Mormon family. They have 5 boys and they are the nicest, and most respectful kids I have ever met. The kids are like sponges whenever we go over there. The dad however doesn't believe in Jesus. Which is a bit of a problem. He said he had an "enlightenment" last week. He was talking to his friend who can "communicate with other dimensions" and to make a long story short the dad is Buddhist sans Buddha (reincarnation, until we reach a 5th dimension of love and peace or something). It's weird because our lessons are always very spiritual. 

We also talked to a woman on the street who vehemently stated that she was never going to die. That was an interesting conversation. We started talking to her in the usual way, and she asked "how can you know something you can't see?" so we talked about faith etc. And she went on to tell us that this life is heaven, and we will not die unless someone kills us... She kept saying over and over "I am not going to die." Elder Wilkinson was like, "yeah... you will." but she was really set on not dying. So we will see how that goes for her...

Recently I've been studying the beatitudes (The one in 3 Nephi 12). It's been fun really digging into the verses. "blessed are the poor in spirit who come unto me, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven" (vs. 3) After looking through all the footnotes and breaking everything down (I spent a day studying "what does it mean to be poor in spirit?" Another on "How do we come unto him?" another on "what does it mean to inherit the Kindom of God?") and ended it with a rephrasing. 

aand I don;t ahve enough time

Sorry

Thanks for everything love

Elder Johns

This is Balut. A fertilized duck egg... That little black thing you can see is the baby duck's beak. (if you zoom in on the photo in the next email you can see more of the duck. ) 

How to eat Balut:

• Step 1 Crack the shell, and peel a bit away. 
• Step 2 Slurp up the juice. It tastes kindof like chicken broth.
• Step 3 Peel away a rubbery coating, and continue peeling the shell until you find the fetus. Eating the pudding-like white stuff is optional. 
• Step 4 Liberally sprinkle salt. You may take a good look at what you are about to eat at this point. If you have a weak stomach and/or a love of baby animals, don't look .
• Step 5 Take a big bite. It is vitally important to disregard the weird texture (beak, bones, intestines etc.), disconcerting taste, and the general grossness. Chew and swallow. 
• Step 6 Eat the rest of the yolk.
• Step 7 Brag about how it wasn't so bad, and fib about how "you really liked it". 
• Step 8 Respectfully decline a second egg by explaining that you want to save room for the rest of the Filipino dishes that they have graciously prepared.  

Week 78 Letter

Corona round 2 week 6.  The big "3/4"

Email Date: Jan 6, 2014

All.

This week was pretty good.

We've had some progress with the Nomura family, a few of them came to church on sunday and we had a couple good lessons with them. I don't think that the dad is really into it though, he thinks he wants to find out, but he doesn't put a lot of effort into it. 

We did pick up a new investigator named Lana. She's 9 and the granddaughter of a member of the bishopric. She and her 7 year old sister are very, very smart. They retain things very well, read well, articulate well, and just have a good knowledge already. She will probably be baptized later this month. The only obstacle is her other grandparents want her to be baptized born-again. But the parents have said it's Lana's choice. So we will see. 

We had a meeting with the mission leadership as well. Last year our mission had 784 baptisms, just missing our goal of 800. Cool thing about that goal. When the goal was created, we didn't know our mission was getting split. We had 400 by the split. We lost about half our missionaries there, we currently have the same number of missionaries as we did before the split in half the area. 

Anyway, our mission is the highest baptizing mission in California and Hawaii per companionship. W00t! (Bragging? Maybe, but hey, it is the best mission in the world.) Our mission president goes home in July (with me) and our goal for the first 6 months of the year is 500. So we talked a lot about goal setting and the things we need to do to amp it up. I'm pretty excited. Even in the few days since that meeting, we've been more effective and focused.   

Our mission president is big on goal setting. And since this is the first email of the year I guess it is relevant. (I haven't set new years resolutions yet, but I will soon) The pattern he suggests is to have a Vision, a Goal, and a Plan. So to have a vision of generally what you want to be doing, a specific (and measurable goal) and a plan on how to get there. 

Somebody said "life without goals is like golf without holes" (I'm not really sure how driving ranges fit into the metaphor but whatever.) So, something to think about.

Thank you everyone who sent Christmas cards/packages. I really appreciate it a lot. (In my right hand is a lump of Coal. From my last companion, elder Gordon.) 

Thank you for the prayers and support. Please write,

Elder Bryce Johns