San Diego Week 10- Persistence is Key

Hey Everyone,

So one thing I've neglected to mention thus far is that there is actually another set of Elders assigned to the Brawley Ward, making five of us in total. It used to be that there was an English speaking companionship and Spanish speaking companionship, and they all covered the entire ward boundaries and taught in their respective language. But for a few reasons involving the elders who were here before me and my companions whitewashed in, some borders were drawn and the other elders learned Spanish. Now we all teach in both languages within our part of the ward boundaries.

The other missionaries are called Elder Burton and Elder Payne. They are cover about 3/4 of the actual city of Brawley, and we cover the other 1/4, and all of the small towns in the ward boundaries.

Earlier this week, Elder Burton was asking me about the patterns I could make on the Rubik's Cube. I can make some geometric patterns, but he wanted to see if I could make letters, or flags, or pictures. The biggest cube I brought with me is a 4x4, and to make designs like that I'd need a bigger grid to work with. I jokingly told him that if he got me a big cube, I'd make any pattern he wanted on it. But then he actually did it. He actually bought a 7x7 cube and gave it to me. I was shocked. He's my favorite missionary now.

There is only one car (some Nissan pickup; sorry I don't know the model) between the two companionships in Brawley. Elder Burton and Elder Payne used to have it, but now we have it so that we can go to all those small towns.

This week, I finally am able to drive the car. All the mission cars have a system called Tiwi. It uses the car's onboard computer to record information about where we take the car, how fast we're driving, how fast we're accelerating, and stuff like that. And it tattles on us if we go above the speed limit, or stop too fast, or unplug it. In order to be allowed to drive, we have to have Tiwi account, and a card we use to log in as the driver every time we start the car. My card finally came in the mail this week, so I can drive now.

I don't want to complain about Tiwi too much. I'm very grateful that we get to drive at all. The mission does give us these cars at no cost to us, and if it's on condition of little micromanagement, that's fair. Plus, there's a really cool hack you can do with Tiwi. If, as you're driving, you put the car in neutral and coast, then put it back in drive as you pass a police car with its lights flashing, the lights freeze. They stop flashing and remain in some mid-flash state. I have no idea how it works, or why something like that would even be possible, but it is so much fun. The tender mercies of the Lord are abundant.

One other cool thing that happened this week. A few weeks ago we knocked on a door and the man who answered told us that today wasn't a good day. So a few days later, we tried again. Again, he told us that he couldn't talk to us today. We continued to go by every few days, and every time he said not today. Until this week. When he opened the door, he said "Look, guys, the truth is I just don't want to talk to you."

I had guessed that was the case, and I was ready to say "Okay, have a nice day then," and let him go. But Elder Reid and Elder Humble continued to talk to him, and asked him if there was anything we could do to help him or his family. He said no, and they asked agian, asking if he was sure and telling him about how much they loved service opportunities. I wished they wouldn't do that. He had already told us he wasn't interested, and pushing it now would just worsen his opinion about us.

But then, while Elder Reid and Elder Humble were talking with him, he suddenly interrupted them, and said, "You know what, I changed my mind. Come inside." He gestured us in, and all surprised and a bit confused, we followed.

He gathered his whole family, and we taught a lesson to all of them. The guy, whose name is Antonio, kept apologizing over and over for turning us away. His wife, whose name is Korín, told us that she had been looking for a church to raise her kids in. The lesson was super spiritual, and we returned to their house a few more times to teach more. They took us up on our offer of help, and we used our truck to help them move some furniture. And they offered to do our laundry for us. They're a really great family. I think there's a high chance they'll be baptized, and they seem like they'd stay active if they did.

The thing that gets to me about this is that it came so close to not happening. If we had left and never came back like I wanted to, we would have never known what might have happened. It sure makes me think.

Anyway, I hope you all have a good week.

Till Next Time,
Elder Wadsworth