Weekly Ramblings #55
Good morning to you all! or evening, or...whatever the case... :-P,
well, here I am, on a tuesday again. I was typing yesterday, wasnt quite done, but had typed quite a butt-load...and the computer decided to completely shut down on me. I was rather...peeved by that, to put it lightly. and by that time, we already had to make our way back to our area to work (we were in san nicolas).
otherwise yesterday was a pretty good day. we went to san nicolas and played soccer for a good 2 hours or so. that game has become ever so much fun to me. got some good sun in there. after we played I ended up wrestling with one of our zone leaders, whooped him pretty bad. he was a good 60 lbs less than me (weighed myself yesterday, 197 :-P ), that and he had never wrestled before, besides with his last comp (who was a rather respectable wrestler in HS), but us both being tired from soccer, it was just as hard for me. we were both exhausted. we ate right after that and I was just staring at my choripan (...like a sausage sandwhich...maybe jeff knows what it is?) for a good 5-10 minutes before I could eat it, and it took another 5-10 minutes just to eat the thing. needless to say, me and my comp were totally drained today, apart from me being slightly burned on my neck, and us both having grass burns on our knees and wrists from wrestling.
well, the last two times I wrote, I expressed a rather large desire to leave the area, and the transfer came and went last thursday and well....Im still here. dont get me wrong, the area itself is very pretty/nice, and the members themselves are awesome people. but I will have almost 6 months by the time I leave here, and that is a looong time to be in one area...that's 1/4 the mission right there. I too know, and have pondered much, that there is a reason I need to be here still. different mission presidents have their ways of doing transfers, some even leaving it up to the APs to take care of it. President Hutchison however, I know, prays sincerely about every single change he makes, and if he thinks I should be here, I should. then again, the few people here that know I want to leave (my comp, and a really awesome member) told me I should have said something to president these last interviews we had. basically telling us he was planning on keeping me and my comp together another transfer, he even said to us seperately "I dont see any reason to seperate you two, do you?" and me, not prone to complain about these things, just said no. Im not trying to complain or vent to you guys, or give excuses...but if you guys have ever wondered why I dont put more feeling into my emails, or really tell you what's on my mind as a missionary, well, it's here.
I would still say something to the president, but I figured I should really try to make the best of things first. since the comp I had my first transfer here left me, I got a comp a lot on the lazier side, and we both just kinda slacked together, even this last transfer with the comp Im with now, we didnt work as hard as we should have. what happens is I got into a state of being completely disanimated to be here because we didnt have anything (investigators, etc), and we really havent had anything, because ive been disanimated to be here, it's one of them viscious cycles. the thing that has kept me from talking to president still is this new thing he came out with that I mentioned last week. the new way to do contacts to get more investigators and what not. this transfer me and my comp have decided to really work as hard as we can with this new thing. if it works Ill be fine. we'll have investigators, and Ill be more animated to work really hard. well, today was the first day we really put it to practice, and it still really hasnt given any results, which is fine, tomorrow is another day. when we're actually out in the streets talking to the people, I have no problem being happy and having a huge smile, rejection or no. it's at the end of the day that it gets to me. dont worry, I do have absolutely no doubt that the Lord can and will bless us for the work we put in. if we keep working hard everday (like we're supposed to anyway), we'll find people. now it's just a matter of when and where.
wow...ok, so, that's about the deepest inside my brain you guys will get for a while, but on to greener pastures...almost...Im really a happy man, I know Im here for a reason, ive got a smile on my face right now and everything...so not to pour lemon on the wound I just showed you guys...but our one investigator, Abel, most likely wont get baptized any time soon. I told all y'all last week how he had apparently come to church drunk. well, that wasnt the end. we hadnt been able to find him anytime we went to his house, or the house of his brother in our other area. then this past friday we were waiting for the bus to go to San Nicolas for our district meeting. one of the local buses pulled up to the terminal and there was one solo passanger. my comp had pointed out how this man was staggering off the bus and was but completely plastered. as soon as he got off the driver told him he forgot his bottle and threw a bottle of that medicinal alcohol stuff, (you know, the pure stuff) off the bus. the man bent over to pick it up and as he turned around, Elder Tracy and I had let out the same under-the-breath exclamation, "nooooooo waaaaaaaaaay". there was our investigator, Abel, as drunk as a...really drunk man...we dont know if he was drinking straight from that alcohol bottle (though it wouldnt have surprised us) but we did see him go fill up a soda bottle with water and mix the alcohol with it and take a few swigs. we would have talked to him had we not had to leave right at that moment. and since then we've still not been able to find the man...at least not sober...Abel had told us before that he had given up drinking 2 months ago, because he knew how bad it was. well, when we were talking to one of his brothers last week he told us that Abel always goes through the same thing, he'll drink a lot for a looong time, and then quit for a few months or so, but as soon as he takes even the smallest drop of alcohol again, he goes back to drinking even worse. we really want to help this man now, we saw him on the street today (also drunk, and "in a hurry", so he couldnt talk) and it was so disheartening. this is quite possibly only the second time in the mission Ive cared so much for the soul of a man.
ok, well, dont dwell on all that too much. like I said, Im doing great, all things considered. we havent given up on abel by any means, we just need to be able to find him while he's sober, and that could prove to be quite difficult. in other news, we have zone conferance coming up this friday, it should be rockin, as it always is. I love zone conferance, as it is always multi-zone, so you get to see lots of other elders you always know. plus I always love listening to president hutchison. everytime I hear him speak it gives me the ganas to work even harder. he actually called us this morning to see how everything was going and likened us doing these contacts to asking a girl on a date, it was quite humorous actually.
HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!!!
¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ CUMPLIAÑOS BRIAN (que sea tarde ya)!!!!!
well, everything seems to be going good on the homefront. anne sent me an email not long ago about how she still hadnt sent all the stuff to other people that I sent her, but was going to do it in that week, so if you havent already, you should be getting that thing I wrote to the bank soon. keep me updated on stuff, kind of like you already do...I guess keep up the good work on that. dang. I think I had some pretty good witty comments in the original email I was writing yesterday, but those are all lost forever. looks like all y'all are just gonna have to wait longer for some good witty comments...as we all know those dont come all that often to me...anyway...just know that I love you all, and that I know that this church is true. I may not have the greatest desires to be in the area Im in right now, but overall there is no place Id rather be right now, or no thing id rather be doing at this point in my life than to be here and be doing what Im doing right now. have fun, be safe, and learn some spanish. you all will need it when I bring you here someday :-P
Love,
Elder Casey Adams
"Smile, the Gospel is true"
"Tenga sonrisa, el Evangelio es verdadero"
-Me
~edited and posted by anne :o)
well, here I am, on a tuesday again. I was typing yesterday, wasnt quite done, but had typed quite a butt-load...and the computer decided to completely shut down on me. I was rather...peeved by that, to put it lightly. and by that time, we already had to make our way back to our area to work (we were in san nicolas).
otherwise yesterday was a pretty good day. we went to san nicolas and played soccer for a good 2 hours or so. that game has become ever so much fun to me. got some good sun in there. after we played I ended up wrestling with one of our zone leaders, whooped him pretty bad. he was a good 60 lbs less than me (weighed myself yesterday, 197 :-P ), that and he had never wrestled before, besides with his last comp (who was a rather respectable wrestler in HS), but us both being tired from soccer, it was just as hard for me. we were both exhausted. we ate right after that and I was just staring at my choripan (...like a sausage sandwhich...maybe jeff knows what it is?) for a good 5-10 minutes before I could eat it, and it took another 5-10 minutes just to eat the thing. needless to say, me and my comp were totally drained today, apart from me being slightly burned on my neck, and us both having grass burns on our knees and wrists from wrestling.
well, the last two times I wrote, I expressed a rather large desire to leave the area, and the transfer came and went last thursday and well....Im still here. dont get me wrong, the area itself is very pretty/nice, and the members themselves are awesome people. but I will have almost 6 months by the time I leave here, and that is a looong time to be in one area...that's 1/4 the mission right there. I too know, and have pondered much, that there is a reason I need to be here still. different mission presidents have their ways of doing transfers, some even leaving it up to the APs to take care of it. President Hutchison however, I know, prays sincerely about every single change he makes, and if he thinks I should be here, I should. then again, the few people here that know I want to leave (my comp, and a really awesome member) told me I should have said something to president these last interviews we had. basically telling us he was planning on keeping me and my comp together another transfer, he even said to us seperately "I dont see any reason to seperate you two, do you?" and me, not prone to complain about these things, just said no. Im not trying to complain or vent to you guys, or give excuses...but if you guys have ever wondered why I dont put more feeling into my emails, or really tell you what's on my mind as a missionary, well, it's here.
I would still say something to the president, but I figured I should really try to make the best of things first. since the comp I had my first transfer here left me, I got a comp a lot on the lazier side, and we both just kinda slacked together, even this last transfer with the comp Im with now, we didnt work as hard as we should have. what happens is I got into a state of being completely disanimated to be here because we didnt have anything (investigators, etc), and we really havent had anything, because ive been disanimated to be here, it's one of them viscious cycles. the thing that has kept me from talking to president still is this new thing he came out with that I mentioned last week. the new way to do contacts to get more investigators and what not. this transfer me and my comp have decided to really work as hard as we can with this new thing. if it works Ill be fine. we'll have investigators, and Ill be more animated to work really hard. well, today was the first day we really put it to practice, and it still really hasnt given any results, which is fine, tomorrow is another day. when we're actually out in the streets talking to the people, I have no problem being happy and having a huge smile, rejection or no. it's at the end of the day that it gets to me. dont worry, I do have absolutely no doubt that the Lord can and will bless us for the work we put in. if we keep working hard everday (like we're supposed to anyway), we'll find people. now it's just a matter of when and where.
wow...ok, so, that's about the deepest inside my brain you guys will get for a while, but on to greener pastures...almost...Im really a happy man, I know Im here for a reason, ive got a smile on my face right now and everything...so not to pour lemon on the wound I just showed you guys...but our one investigator, Abel, most likely wont get baptized any time soon. I told all y'all last week how he had apparently come to church drunk. well, that wasnt the end. we hadnt been able to find him anytime we went to his house, or the house of his brother in our other area. then this past friday we were waiting for the bus to go to San Nicolas for our district meeting. one of the local buses pulled up to the terminal and there was one solo passanger. my comp had pointed out how this man was staggering off the bus and was but completely plastered. as soon as he got off the driver told him he forgot his bottle and threw a bottle of that medicinal alcohol stuff, (you know, the pure stuff) off the bus. the man bent over to pick it up and as he turned around, Elder Tracy and I had let out the same under-the-breath exclamation, "nooooooo waaaaaaaaaay". there was our investigator, Abel, as drunk as a...really drunk man...we dont know if he was drinking straight from that alcohol bottle (though it wouldnt have surprised us) but we did see him go fill up a soda bottle with water and mix the alcohol with it and take a few swigs. we would have talked to him had we not had to leave right at that moment. and since then we've still not been able to find the man...at least not sober...Abel had told us before that he had given up drinking 2 months ago, because he knew how bad it was. well, when we were talking to one of his brothers last week he told us that Abel always goes through the same thing, he'll drink a lot for a looong time, and then quit for a few months or so, but as soon as he takes even the smallest drop of alcohol again, he goes back to drinking even worse. we really want to help this man now, we saw him on the street today (also drunk, and "in a hurry", so he couldnt talk) and it was so disheartening. this is quite possibly only the second time in the mission Ive cared so much for the soul of a man.
ok, well, dont dwell on all that too much. like I said, Im doing great, all things considered. we havent given up on abel by any means, we just need to be able to find him while he's sober, and that could prove to be quite difficult. in other news, we have zone conferance coming up this friday, it should be rockin, as it always is. I love zone conferance, as it is always multi-zone, so you get to see lots of other elders you always know. plus I always love listening to president hutchison. everytime I hear him speak it gives me the ganas to work even harder. he actually called us this morning to see how everything was going and likened us doing these contacts to asking a girl on a date, it was quite humorous actually.
HAPPY (belated) BIRTHDAY BRIAN!!!!!
¡¡¡¡¡FELIZ CUMPLIAÑOS BRIAN (que sea tarde ya)!!!!!
well, everything seems to be going good on the homefront. anne sent me an email not long ago about how she still hadnt sent all the stuff to other people that I sent her, but was going to do it in that week, so if you havent already, you should be getting that thing I wrote to the bank soon. keep me updated on stuff, kind of like you already do...I guess keep up the good work on that. dang. I think I had some pretty good witty comments in the original email I was writing yesterday, but those are all lost forever. looks like all y'all are just gonna have to wait longer for some good witty comments...as we all know those dont come all that often to me...anyway...just know that I love you all, and that I know that this church is true. I may not have the greatest desires to be in the area Im in right now, but overall there is no place Id rather be right now, or no thing id rather be doing at this point in my life than to be here and be doing what Im doing right now. have fun, be safe, and learn some spanish. you all will need it when I bring you here someday :-P
Love,
Elder Casey Adams
"Smile, the Gospel is true"
"Tenga sonrisa, el Evangelio es verdadero"
-Me
~edited and posted by anne :o)