Saturday, July 25, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
"The Stench of Cats Penetrated Me to My Very Soul"
This week we did a TON of service. Last Tuesday after P-day we were going to go help this non-member that called us to help pack up his stuff because he was moving. We show up and he asked us if we could help dig a grave for 3 of his cats that he had to put down that day instead. Elder Callahan said sure thing not knowing before hand that we were not going to be digging a hole in nice soft Utah soil. It wasn't soft at all haha it was clay and it was really hard haha. We actually started digging a hole and found his dead dog he buried 5 years ago so we had to cover it up and start all over in a different spot. The clay was so hard that I was using an axe to break up the clay and the whole time we were doing this the guy was smoking and drinking .
We finally finish digging the hole and a member picks us up to help him rip out some carpet that got ruined by a cat. We show up to his house and we have gloves and masks on and we can still smell the disgusting stench from the carpet. The story is that the dog would shut the door on the cat and trap it in the room and then the cat would saturate the carpet with vile and disgusting bodily excretion. At the end of the day Elder Callahan and I smelt disgusting and I was covered in dirt and my clothes wreaked of cats and sweat. Needless to say we took showers and went straight to bed after planning.
Wednesday night we went on splits and I had the opportunity to go with President Collins he is the second Counselor in the Mission Presidency. We went and saw the Bietlers and had an amazing lesson with them. We talked about the priesthood with Don and his wife who is less active. We shared the Mormon message called "sanctify yourselves" it's about a little league football team that gets struck by lightning and a newly ordained Elder has to give a boy a blessing or he might not make it. As I was preparing for this lesson I felt so inspired to share this with them and when I did the spirit was so strong and President Collins bore a powerful testimony about the priesthood that brought us all almost to tears. Don talked about how important his family was to him and that's why I think I was inspired to talk about the priesthood because his family needs the priesthood in their lives and President Collins had the perfect testimony to share with them. I felt so good after the lesson I know that we talked about the right thing and I know it was inspired by God.
Elder Callahan went with a different member of the ward and it went really well! Elder Callahan is a really good missionary.
On Thursday morning we went back to the guy with the 3 dead cats to help him pack up the truck. He told us he had a lot of stuff so we brought 3 other sets of missionaries with us to help. We walk in the house and my allergies hit me like a brick wall. The stench of cats penetrated me to my very soul! I tried my best to keep working but after I set a stack of papers in a box a bunch of cat hair puffed up in my face and I was done. My eyes were itchy, red, and watery. My nose was running, my throat was itchy, and I was getting rashes all over my arms and neck. Elder Funckes, who is also allergic, and I decided it would be best if we went outside to get some fresh air. I ended up getting a banjo though. It was pretty beat up but Elder Fraughton knows someone that might be able to fix it in his ward.
Saturday it rained... All day which is crazy since we are in a drought. We actually woke up to thunder which was pretty cool since I haven't seen thunder and lightning in like a year haha. Made me think I was back in Ohio for a second haha. Since I have been in California I think it's rained like 5-6 times haha. We ended up avoiding the rain pretty well though. We had a lot of members and people we were teaching give us rides. We did service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant at the Bietlers that morning. We helped them fix his sprinklers in his yard. After that I practiced singing a musical number with Elder Fraughton and two other sister missionaries.
Sunday went well. I think this ward is really starting to reach out to us though. This ward has had a lot of old and "trunky" missionaries (trunky means they think about home a lot and aren't too dedicated to working). I think having a brand new missionary is just what this ward needed. After church we had an early dinner because we had a Mission Presidents Fireside that night and I had to be there early to practice the musical number I was singing with Elder Fraughton and Sister Wilde and Pilkington.
At the fireside assigned recent converts get to bear their testimonies and the mission presidency shares Mormon Messages. There is a missionary choir and missionaries perform musical numbers and stuff. Our performance went well. Elder Fraughton and I messed up a little but it's all good. I think he wants to sing again at the August M.P. Fireside before he goes home. The M.P. Fireside is amazing though. Their was a recent convert who bore her testimony and she couldn't stop crying during it because of how much this gospel and church has been a blessing for her and her mom. It hit me so hard and I felt the spirit so powerfully as she was bearing her testimony. I just felt so blessed to be able to be born into this church and I feel like sometimes I can take that for granted and that's why it's so important that we have our own personal conversion even if we were born in the church.
Yesterday was a pretty normal day. We did a lot of walking and talking and teaching. Walking isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It gives us an opportunity to have members come out with us more and we get to talk with a lot more people. As of this morning I have lost 46 lbs and I come home in less then a year as of Sunday! That's it for this week :).
Love you the church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
We finally finish digging the hole and a member picks us up to help him rip out some carpet that got ruined by a cat. We show up to his house and we have gloves and masks on and we can still smell the disgusting stench from the carpet. The story is that the dog would shut the door on the cat and trap it in the room and then the cat would saturate the carpet with vile and disgusting bodily excretion. At the end of the day Elder Callahan and I smelt disgusting and I was covered in dirt and my clothes wreaked of cats and sweat. Needless to say we took showers and went straight to bed after planning.
Wednesday night we went on splits and I had the opportunity to go with President Collins he is the second Counselor in the Mission Presidency. We went and saw the Bietlers and had an amazing lesson with them. We talked about the priesthood with Don and his wife who is less active. We shared the Mormon message called "sanctify yourselves" it's about a little league football team that gets struck by lightning and a newly ordained Elder has to give a boy a blessing or he might not make it. As I was preparing for this lesson I felt so inspired to share this with them and when I did the spirit was so strong and President Collins bore a powerful testimony about the priesthood that brought us all almost to tears. Don talked about how important his family was to him and that's why I think I was inspired to talk about the priesthood because his family needs the priesthood in their lives and President Collins had the perfect testimony to share with them. I felt so good after the lesson I know that we talked about the right thing and I know it was inspired by God.
Elder Callahan went with a different member of the ward and it went really well! Elder Callahan is a really good missionary.
On Thursday morning we went back to the guy with the 3 dead cats to help him pack up the truck. He told us he had a lot of stuff so we brought 3 other sets of missionaries with us to help. We walk in the house and my allergies hit me like a brick wall. The stench of cats penetrated me to my very soul! I tried my best to keep working but after I set a stack of papers in a box a bunch of cat hair puffed up in my face and I was done. My eyes were itchy, red, and watery. My nose was running, my throat was itchy, and I was getting rashes all over my arms and neck. Elder Funckes, who is also allergic, and I decided it would be best if we went outside to get some fresh air. I ended up getting a banjo though. It was pretty beat up but Elder Fraughton knows someone that might be able to fix it in his ward.
Saturday it rained... All day which is crazy since we are in a drought. We actually woke up to thunder which was pretty cool since I haven't seen thunder and lightning in like a year haha. Made me think I was back in Ohio for a second haha. Since I have been in California I think it's rained like 5-6 times haha. We ended up avoiding the rain pretty well though. We had a lot of members and people we were teaching give us rides. We did service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant at the Bietlers that morning. We helped them fix his sprinklers in his yard. After that I practiced singing a musical number with Elder Fraughton and two other sister missionaries.
Sunday went well. I think this ward is really starting to reach out to us though. This ward has had a lot of old and "trunky" missionaries (trunky means they think about home a lot and aren't too dedicated to working). I think having a brand new missionary is just what this ward needed. After church we had an early dinner because we had a Mission Presidents Fireside that night and I had to be there early to practice the musical number I was singing with Elder Fraughton and Sister Wilde and Pilkington.
At the fireside assigned recent converts get to bear their testimonies and the mission presidency shares Mormon Messages. There is a missionary choir and missionaries perform musical numbers and stuff. Our performance went well. Elder Fraughton and I messed up a little but it's all good. I think he wants to sing again at the August M.P. Fireside before he goes home. The M.P. Fireside is amazing though. Their was a recent convert who bore her testimony and she couldn't stop crying during it because of how much this gospel and church has been a blessing for her and her mom. It hit me so hard and I felt the spirit so powerfully as she was bearing her testimony. I just felt so blessed to be able to be born into this church and I feel like sometimes I can take that for granted and that's why it's so important that we have our own personal conversion even if we were born in the church.
Yesterday was a pretty normal day. We did a lot of walking and talking and teaching. Walking isn't as bad as I thought it would be. It gives us an opportunity to have members come out with us more and we get to talk with a lot more people. As of this morning I have lost 46 lbs and I come home in less then a year as of Sunday! That's it for this week :).
Love you the church is true.
-Elder LaRochelle
Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Transfers, Trainers, Trainees, and T-bones
Hello everyone this week has been pretty eventful. My new companion is Elder Callahan and he is from Sandy Utah.
Last Tuesday after P-Day I was with Elder Felix from Lakeside Ward for the day and we went and saw one of his recent converts. She was having a hard time because she found out that she was going to jail. She is caught up in word of wisdom problems and her life is really just a mess now. We tried to help her and at that point my testimony was strengthened of why we have the commandments that we have. A lot of people we talk to feel like the commandments restrict our lives but in reality they make us free and happy.
Wednesday was a pretty crazy day. Since I'm training this transfer I had to go to a Trainer Meeting. After that we had Transfer Meeting and that's when I knew Elder Callahan was going to be my companion. After that meeting we had a Trainer Trainee Meeting. After that meeting we had a Leadership Meeting for district and zone leaders. Needless to say I had a headache afterwards haha. We had a pretty good day though. We taught 7 lessons which is a lot for a walking area!
Friday was a very different day haha. We had Zone Meeting all morning in preparation for stage 2 of iPads. Stage 1 is just getting the device and stage 2 is when we get the area book planner app. On the app we will have all of our plans and all the information about the area in the app and stage 3 is when we get online proselyting like Facebook.
After Zone Meeting we did some service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant. After the service we were running late so the other Elders said that they would give us a ride after we changed. So we went and changed real quick and on our way to our appointment Elder Bryant, who was driving, had to make a u-turn. He didn't check before turning and we got t-boned by a Silverado.
The truck was only going like 20 mph and all of us are fine except Elder Callahan who hit his head on the side of the car and cracked his head a little. We had to call 911 and a fire truck and an ambulance and a couple police officers came and said he should go to the E.R. Elder Callahan said he would be alright because sister Schmitt was coming to check it out (Sister Schmitt is an E.R. doctor). Sister Schmitt said he would need a couple staples so the mission doctor came to our apartment at like 11 pm and put 4 staples in his head and left haha. Elder Callahan is doing fine though it was a good bonding moment haha.
Everything else is going great here! The members are starting to really trust us and help us by giving us names to visit which is great. Our zone leaders told us that our area is doing the best in the zone which is great to hear. Hopefully we'll keep it up.
Training is definitely a lot different then having a companion that's going home soon, but life goes on and I will adjust. Elder Callahan is a good missionary and wants to be obedient which is great.
Oh yeah one more thing - I have lost 41 lbs!!!
Well that's it for this week. Love you the Church is true!
-Elder LaRochelle :)
Last Tuesday after P-Day I was with Elder Felix from Lakeside Ward for the day and we went and saw one of his recent converts. She was having a hard time because she found out that she was going to jail. She is caught up in word of wisdom problems and her life is really just a mess now. We tried to help her and at that point my testimony was strengthened of why we have the commandments that we have. A lot of people we talk to feel like the commandments restrict our lives but in reality they make us free and happy.
Wednesday was a pretty crazy day. Since I'm training this transfer I had to go to a Trainer Meeting. After that we had Transfer Meeting and that's when I knew Elder Callahan was going to be my companion. After that meeting we had a Trainer Trainee Meeting. After that meeting we had a Leadership Meeting for district and zone leaders. Needless to say I had a headache afterwards haha. We had a pretty good day though. We taught 7 lessons which is a lot for a walking area!
Friday was a very different day haha. We had Zone Meeting all morning in preparation for stage 2 of iPads. Stage 1 is just getting the device and stage 2 is when we get the area book planner app. On the app we will have all of our plans and all the information about the area in the app and stage 3 is when we get online proselyting like Facebook.
After Zone Meeting we did some service with Elder Fraughton and Elder Bryant. After the service we were running late so the other Elders said that they would give us a ride after we changed. So we went and changed real quick and on our way to our appointment Elder Bryant, who was driving, had to make a u-turn. He didn't check before turning and we got t-boned by a Silverado.
The truck was only going like 20 mph and all of us are fine except Elder Callahan who hit his head on the side of the car and cracked his head a little. We had to call 911 and a fire truck and an ambulance and a couple police officers came and said he should go to the E.R. Elder Callahan said he would be alright because sister Schmitt was coming to check it out (Sister Schmitt is an E.R. doctor). Sister Schmitt said he would need a couple staples so the mission doctor came to our apartment at like 11 pm and put 4 staples in his head and left haha. Elder Callahan is doing fine though it was a good bonding moment haha.
Everything else is going great here! The members are starting to really trust us and help us by giving us names to visit which is great. Our zone leaders told us that our area is doing the best in the zone which is great to hear. Hopefully we'll keep it up.
Training is definitely a lot different then having a companion that's going home soon, but life goes on and I will adjust. Elder Callahan is a good missionary and wants to be obedient which is great.
Oh yeah one more thing - I have lost 41 lbs!!!
Well that's it for this week. Love you the Church is true!
-Elder LaRochelle :)
Monday, July 13, 2015
Elder Wendel Goes Home
From July 7.....
So this week has been pretty crazy busy with different meetings and we did a lot of service and a lot of people wanted to feed us before Elder Wendel went home which is pretty cool. Tomorrow I get my new companion and I'm...... training! I'm gonna have a son :P
On Tuesday night we had dinner with the Alvernazes. He is a member and a sergeant for the El Cajon police department. His wife is not a member but elder Wendel I have built a lot of trust with her and she has really opened up to us. She has heard the missionary lessons a billion times so we have just been working on loving her and she is amazing and has been at church the past 3 weeks in a row!
On Tuesday night we had dinner with the Alvernazes. He is a member and a sergeant for the El Cajon police department. His wife is not a member but elder Wendel I have built a lot of trust with her and she has really opened up to us. She has heard the missionary lessons a billion times so we have just been working on loving her and she is amazing and has been at church the past 3 weeks in a row!
Wednesday I taught D-Meet. Two out of four missionaries go home this transfer from my district and the other missionary goes home in August. After d meet we did service with elder Fraughton and his comp. We helped this lady clean her house. She is a hoarder and has a lot of stuff. Elder Wendel and I did a pretty good job cleaning one of the rooms and after we were done we found out that there were two beds in there... It was pretty bad.
Friday elder Wendel had "departure activities" all day. So he went to the temple with president and stuff so that was pretty cool. I was with Elder Felix for the day and we went out to Campo which is like the middle of nowhere to do service with some Spanish missionaries.
On the Fourth of July we had a ward breakfast that morning which was fun. After that we went and saw Pamela because she wasn't feeling to well at the breakfast. We had a pretty good day on the fourth. We had to be inside by 6 pm to make sure we didn't get into any trouble. Kinda frustrating but the other companionship in my district lied and said they were home but they really weren't so that was interesting. The zone Leaders had to talk to president and everything which was interesting. This 4th of July was pretty awesome though.
Elder Wendel had his last Sunday this week and he bore his testimony and everything which was cool. The Bietler family was at church and the dad is getting baptized in August and the wife is returning back to church. They are an awesome family!
Yesterday was a pretty good day we had a member take us out to get frozen yogurt (mine was sugar free of course!) :P
We dropped off elder Wendel this morning at the airport and I saw elder Nielsen and Elder Kiser which was cool.
Friday elder Wendel had "departure activities" all day. So he went to the temple with president and stuff so that was pretty cool. I was with Elder Felix for the day and we went out to Campo which is like the middle of nowhere to do service with some Spanish missionaries.
On the Fourth of July we had a ward breakfast that morning which was fun. After that we went and saw Pamela because she wasn't feeling to well at the breakfast. We had a pretty good day on the fourth. We had to be inside by 6 pm to make sure we didn't get into any trouble. Kinda frustrating but the other companionship in my district lied and said they were home but they really weren't so that was interesting. The zone Leaders had to talk to president and everything which was interesting. This 4th of July was pretty awesome though.
Elder Wendel had his last Sunday this week and he bore his testimony and everything which was cool. The Bietler family was at church and the dad is getting baptized in August and the wife is returning back to church. They are an awesome family!
Yesterday was a pretty good day we had a member take us out to get frozen yogurt (mine was sugar free of course!) :P
We dropped off elder Wendel this morning at the airport and I saw elder Nielsen and Elder Kiser which was cool.
Well that's it for this week love you the Church is true!
- Elder LaRochelle
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