San Diego Week 9- First Ordinance

Hey Everyone,

This week was another good week. Since I got here we've been doing lots of contacting, teaching, and service, but this week we performed our first ordinance as a companionship. Let me tell you how that happened. We were inside the gates of our apartment complex walking to our apartment. We passed by someone, and Elder Reid struck up a conversation, using the bees mentioned in the last email as an opener. He said something like, "Hey, did you see what they did to those bees?"

Elder Reid loves bees. He was super happy to see them making a hive near us, and it hit him pretty hard when they were killed. He's been talking about the bees with everyone in our apartment complex, lamenting their loss. And pretty much everyone has shared the sentiment. So it totally blindsided us when this guy said, "Oh yeah, that was me."

Elder Reid stood in shock for a moment, trying to process what he'd just heard. He was unable to, so he asked the guy to give him the information again. "That was you?"

"Yeah," the guy responded. Elder Reid finally understood, and was pissed. But the guy wasn't finished yet. He continued, "It was fun." Elder Reid returned to his state of shock. Since the conversation wasn't progressing anymore, the guy walked away.

Elder Reid was furious, and as the guy walked away, Elder Reid shook the dust off his feet at him. And that was our first ordinance.

My two companions are both very popular in the mission. Everyone likes them, and says they're great missionaries. The mission president, President Stubbs, loves them both. I like them both too, and being their companion is cool.

Elder Reid is a funny guy. He is very outgoing, and great at talking to people we find. Everyone likes talking to him. His Spanish is also fantastic. His accent is so good that he sometimes tells people he's from Spain, and they believe him (he is actually from Idaho). Before his mission, he used to put a can of chewing tobacco in his back pocket. He didn't chew, but the edge of the can would wear his jeans when he sat down, and make a white ring on the seat of his pants, and he just liked the look.

Elder Humble you already heard from a bit. He's more quiet and chill. He's really smart. When we first got to this apartment, the sink wasn't draining properly. With no hesitation, he took the pipes under the sink apart. And cleaned them. Then he unfolded a wire hanger and used it to remove a large amount of disgusting smelling organic material from the pipe that lead into the wall. Then he put it back together, and it drained fine after that. I was surprised to learn afterwards that he had never done that before, and had just been figuring it out as he went along. His confidence and competence impressed me a lot.

Being in a trio is interesting. On the one hand, it's great, because with two examples to draw from, I can more easily differentiate characteristics of a good missionary from attributes of their personality or style. I can already begin to form abstractions of both the fundamental identity of the ideal missionary, and the spectrum of personal style that can be applied to it. I think it's really fortunate that I got that right off the bat.

But the other thing about it is that there isn't much pressure on me to do anything. They can fully operate as a companionship without any contribution from me, so all of my participation is pretty artificial. In this way, it feels kind of like a continuation the MTC. While I'm glad that it isn't very stressful or too difficult right now, I'm increasingly concerned that there will be negative longer term consequences. I don't want this to make me lazy and unprepared for when I have to start carrying my weight.

Still, their functionality as a companionship without me has some upside. It is a great opportunity to be able to see a good companionship in action first hand. I think if I really take it seriously, this situation will provide the best learning I could have asked for.

Alright, that's all I've got to say this week. I'll try to come up with something else by next time. Until then, I hope you all have a great week.

Your Friend,
Elder Wadsworth