"Missionaries in the US learn how to grind." Brother Hess told me
during a dinner with his family. Fun fact for the Cougar alumni,
brother H was a wide receiver for BYU not too long ago. Now he's
going to law school at UT.
But that made me think. What is the grind? How am I learning to do it?
The grind is something that a lot of missionaries feel. It is when
your investigator drops you at the front door, with your Ward mission
leader standing behind you. The grind is running out of plans halfway
through the day because all your appointments canceled. The grind is
what makes missionary work work. It is the probably the most tiring
part of the mission, because it
However, if learning how to grind was also knowing how to dance with
your hips, I'm pretty good at that too.
The last half of this week had a lot of grind to it. We weren't able
to get a lesson in with anyone from Thursday to Sunday. I suppose, if
all you are looking at is lessons, that would be a pain in the butt.
But no, we did a ton of amazing things.
Friday we helped move in a nonmember family named the Astacios. The
Astacios are really good friends with the elders quorum President. It
was great! The best part is that they love right below us, and they
said that they'll have us over for dinner all the time. I'm super
excited to get to know them, one because they are genuinely interested
in the church, but also because we have some new friends in our
apartment complex! It'll be a blast. It looks like in a bout a month
or so we'll start teaching them.
As well as that, we got to have an excellent meeting with the bishop.
The bishop of the Old Settlers Ward is an amazing man. He's also one
of the funnier guys you'll meet. He has that high council humor. You
know, the one where everything can be a play on words no matter how
lame it's going to turn out? That's exactly how he is, except when
Bishop James does it it's almost always great. It's like Dad humor, if
,last of it was hilarious. Anyways, we got to sit down with him and
talk about some of the visions that he has for the Ward, which is a
lot. He himself is a convert, and he wants us to focus on less active
and part member families, and give them as much love as possible,
because that's how he joined the church. It was great to hear him bear
testimony about the power of missionary work. Really inspiring
meeting.
I also got a throwback Earl C hand sown jersey for helping out
at a service project! Every week we help out at a food pantry that
serves the poor and needy. The guy in charge, H loves us. He is
insane though. But for our service, he told us to pick out some of the
jerseys that he sells at an auction. I picked the Eark C,
because hey, it's Earl C. When I picked it up there was a Dallas
Cowboys jersey with a signature on it.
"Oh wow, is that Dez Bryant?"
"Yeah."
"Oh okay, I don't really like Dez Bryant anyways.
"Wait, no, that's Michael Irvin. You want it?"
My jaw dropped. I couldn't take that from him. Heck, I don't even know
where he got it. But hey, the things you see on your mission.
Sunday in terms of scheduling was rough. We had a good four
appointments set up for the day, and all of them called us and said,
"Uh, hey, we messed up. We're watching the super bowl today. But if
you want to watch with us you totally can!"
It took Elder Muhlestein and I a good while to decide what to do.
Luckily, we were saved by grace. The R family in the Ward was a
having a birthday party for their Sister in Law from South Africa, so
they had us over to meet her and talk about the church without the
super bowl. blaring in the background. That was a much better use of
time than going by investigators who were not totally looking for a
lesson on Sunday.
Grace is a wonderful thing. Grace comes with the Grind. So long as
we're doing the best we can as missionaries to fulfill our purpose,
grace is going to be abound.
The tail end of last week was a little rough on me. I just felt like
we were falling short as a companionship sometimes, like we need a
rough patch. Which helps explain why I wrote my little manifesto on
grace and insufficiency last week. But you know what, I prayed to God,
I redoubled my efforts, and Elder M and I worked butts off
even more.
And it was awesome! Tuesday night I was part of one of the most
spiritual lessons I've had yet on my mission. The C have a date
for baptism now! You could just feel the amount of faith the father
was exercising. His closing prayer, church he said kneeling down next
to us and their best friends, the H, was beautiful. It was
the first prayer he ever said out loud.
On Sunday I got to sit next to Kevin. The testimony meeting we had at
church was amazing to him. It just clicked. It was like watching the
combination on a lock spin uncontrollably and then stopping
immediately at perfect 0's. K's main concern was that he didn't
feel like the spirit told him that he needed to be baptized yet, but
my goodness, he was in tears by how much he felt the spirit. I think
he was do every helmed because he didn't realize just how strong the
witness of truth would be after the trial of his faith. Very special
moment.
And hey, we had about a million lessons between Monday and Wednesday,
so I'm not mad at all for the drout. Besides, being on a mission isn't
about numbers, it's more about changing lives. It's about doing your
best, getting your circumstances flipped on its head, readjusting, and
keep working hard. I've had more joy being a missionary than I could
have had any other time.
Miracles are all around us. Miracles are so great. They testify of
Christ, no matter what size they are.
Elder Richard Hall
1. Torchy's the home of the Maine Root and nookies. Maine Root is one
of the best sofas created, and I'm pretty sure I've talked about
nookies before. Straight magic. We went here with a member before he
took us home one night. Got a dozen nookies between us. Delicious.
2. The Jersey. It is so beautiful
during a dinner with his family. Fun fact for the Cougar alumni,
brother H was a wide receiver for BYU not too long ago. Now he's
going to law school at UT.
But that made me think. What is the grind? How am I learning to do it?
The grind is something that a lot of missionaries feel. It is when
your investigator drops you at the front door, with your Ward mission
leader standing behind you. The grind is running out of plans halfway
through the day because all your appointments canceled. The grind is
what makes missionary work work. It is the probably the most tiring
part of the mission, because it
However, if learning how to grind was also knowing how to dance with
your hips, I'm pretty good at that too.
The last half of this week had a lot of grind to it. We weren't able
to get a lesson in with anyone from Thursday to Sunday. I suppose, if
all you are looking at is lessons, that would be a pain in the butt.
But no, we did a ton of amazing things.
Friday we helped move in a nonmember family named the Astacios. The
Astacios are really good friends with the elders quorum President. It
was great! The best part is that they love right below us, and they
said that they'll have us over for dinner all the time. I'm super
excited to get to know them, one because they are genuinely interested
in the church, but also because we have some new friends in our
apartment complex! It'll be a blast. It looks like in a bout a month
or so we'll start teaching them.
As well as that, we got to have an excellent meeting with the bishop.
The bishop of the Old Settlers Ward is an amazing man. He's also one
of the funnier guys you'll meet. He has that high council humor. You
know, the one where everything can be a play on words no matter how
lame it's going to turn out? That's exactly how he is, except when
Bishop James does it it's almost always great. It's like Dad humor, if
,last of it was hilarious. Anyways, we got to sit down with him and
talk about some of the visions that he has for the Ward, which is a
lot. He himself is a convert, and he wants us to focus on less active
and part member families, and give them as much love as possible,
because that's how he joined the church. It was great to hear him bear
testimony about the power of missionary work. Really inspiring
meeting.
I also got a throwback Earl C hand sown jersey for helping out
at a service project! Every week we help out at a food pantry that
serves the poor and needy. The guy in charge, H loves us. He is
insane though. But for our service, he told us to pick out some of the
jerseys that he sells at an auction. I picked the Eark C,
because hey, it's Earl C. When I picked it up there was a Dallas
Cowboys jersey with a signature on it.
"Oh wow, is that Dez Bryant?"
"Yeah."
"Oh okay, I don't really like Dez Bryant anyways.
"Wait, no, that's Michael Irvin. You want it?"
My jaw dropped. I couldn't take that from him. Heck, I don't even know
where he got it. But hey, the things you see on your mission.
Sunday in terms of scheduling was rough. We had a good four
appointments set up for the day, and all of them called us and said,
"Uh, hey, we messed up. We're watching the super bowl today. But if
you want to watch with us you totally can!"
It took Elder Muhlestein and I a good while to decide what to do.
Luckily, we were saved by grace. The R family in the Ward was a
having a birthday party for their Sister in Law from South Africa, so
they had us over to meet her and talk about the church without the
super bowl. blaring in the background. That was a much better use of
time than going by investigators who were not totally looking for a
lesson on Sunday.
Grace is a wonderful thing. Grace comes with the Grind. So long as
we're doing the best we can as missionaries to fulfill our purpose,
grace is going to be abound.
The tail end of last week was a little rough on me. I just felt like
we were falling short as a companionship sometimes, like we need a
rough patch. Which helps explain why I wrote my little manifesto on
grace and insufficiency last week. But you know what, I prayed to God,
I redoubled my efforts, and Elder M and I worked butts off
even more.
And it was awesome! Tuesday night I was part of one of the most
spiritual lessons I've had yet on my mission. The C have a date
for baptism now! You could just feel the amount of faith the father
was exercising. His closing prayer, church he said kneeling down next
to us and their best friends, the H, was beautiful. It was
the first prayer he ever said out loud.
On Sunday I got to sit next to Kevin. The testimony meeting we had at
church was amazing to him. It just clicked. It was like watching the
combination on a lock spin uncontrollably and then stopping
immediately at perfect 0's. K's main concern was that he didn't
feel like the spirit told him that he needed to be baptized yet, but
my goodness, he was in tears by how much he felt the spirit. I think
he was do every helmed because he didn't realize just how strong the
witness of truth would be after the trial of his faith. Very special
moment.
And hey, we had about a million lessons between Monday and Wednesday,
so I'm not mad at all for the drout. Besides, being on a mission isn't
about numbers, it's more about changing lives. It's about doing your
best, getting your circumstances flipped on its head, readjusting, and
keep working hard. I've had more joy being a missionary than I could
have had any other time.
Miracles are all around us. Miracles are so great. They testify of
Christ, no matter what size they are.
Elder Richard Hall
1. Torchy's the home of the Maine Root and nookies. Maine Root is one
of the best sofas created, and I'm pretty sure I've talked about
nookies before. Straight magic. We went here with a member before he
took us home one night. Got a dozen nookies between us. Delicious.
2. The Jersey. It is so beautiful
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