Week 15: Surreal

April 27, 1988

Can you believe April is over already?  Almost 4 months of my mission is behind me -- time really flies.  But the work is going just as slow as usual.

Not much happened on Thursday.  It rained again on Friday, but in the afternoon we made it out to the library, the bank, the Stanford clinic, and the Stanford bookstore.

On Saturday, I had the opportunity of observing Elder Lima teach a first discussion in Chinese.  I know it went well because I felt the spirit.  In the afternoon, Lima and I went checking on referrals.  We also stopped by to see Leslie who is doing well.  She seems very interested in the Book of Mormon.  If we can baptize her, maybe we can baptize her whole family; the situation looks good.

On Sunday there was a regional conference in Maples Pavilion on the Stanford campus.  President Thomas S. Monson, Elder Joseph E. Wirthlin and Elder Ted E. Brewerton spoke to us.  It was a great meeting.

I saw Elder Golf today at the conference and paid him back the money he lent me for pizza.  He is now with Elder Delta who came out with me.  Golf recently had another bike accident, and this one was worse than the first one.  It seems that he was following Delta when he blacked out.  The next thing he knew he was laying on the ground with a lot of scrapes and bruises.  Ouch.  On the other hand, he and Delta are having success down there in Santa Clara.

In the afternoon I went with Elder Lima to a baptism.  The zone leaders were baptizing a Stanford student; it was very inspirational.

On Monday I went out with Elder Able.  We did follow-up in the morning and tracted a street in the afternoon.

Tuesday was the day that transfer calls went out.  The four of us in the flat sat around that morning talking, and after some discussion, we decided that it would be a good idea to put Lima and I together in the Palo Alto First Ward and Lake and Able in the Palo Alto Second Ward; in other words, we wanted to switch companions.  Lake and Able get a long better and Lima and I do as well.  Then we had the brilliant idea to call President Douglas and suggest this arrangement to him.

The absurdity should be obvious.  Transfer call day is the busiest day of the month at the mission office, very nerve racking.  So it would make sense for the mission president to be more than a little edgy.  He was, and he chewed out Lake and Able and then hung up on Lake.

Later, when the actual transfer call came, we learned that no one was being moved.  So I am to be stuck here at least another month.

Shortly after the call, the zone leaders came down for a chat.  It was a rather big discussion about rules and calling the mission president on transfer call day.  Another big issue was weightlifting, which some of the other missionaries want to do, but which is against the mission rules.  We also found out that Elder Whopper is our new district leader.

Speaking of weightlifting, a member of the Palo Alto First Ward, who lives close to our apartment, has a home gym and invited us to use it whenever we wanted.  One night, recently, Lima, Able and Lake decided that they were going to start going to this home gym every night after our 9:30 check in call.

They also decided that I would be the one to make the phone call to the zone leaders to report that we were in for the night.  So, on this particular night, I made the call and then we all went over to the member’s home gym.  I went only because I could not be at the apartment alone.

Unbeknownst to us, while we were out, the zone leaders called back, and when we got back to the apartment they were there waiting for us.  While I believed I was in a position where I had had little choice, I still had to admit to Elder Baker that I had lied.  Then, of course, we also got a lecture on obeying mission rules.

It's been a crazy week, but otherwise, all is well here.  My health is fine, no problems.

Love
Douglas

Week 14: Discouraged

April 20, 1988

We have been getting a lot of rain here, lately.  This has been good as the water has been needed.  There has been talk of water rationing, so every drop of rain helps.  It rained cats and dogs on Thursday, so we did not get much work done.

On Friday, I drove the elder transferred in from the Fresno mission, Elder Able, up to his radiation treatment at the Stanford Medical Center.  After that we went on team-ups -- actually, I was with Elder Able as he did a lot of shopping on University Avenue.  In the evening, I followed Elder Able on my bike as he went for a run.

On Saturday morning, we had a district breakfast and study at the zone leaders' flat.  It was a good morning.  But then, the rest of the day, we did more shopping.  You have some interesting experiences on a mission.  I love going into stores in a shirt and tie; it doesn’t take very long before someone approaches you and starts asking questions about the merchandise.  “I’m sorry,” you say, “I don’t work here.”  My personal record is four times in the same store.

One reason we did so little on Saturday was that it started raining again in the afternoon.  It was a hard rain, too.  Riding bikes in that kind of weather seems like a bad idea.

When I talked with President Douglas last week, I told him how discouraged I was with how slow things were going here.  He said that he felt things would get better in the next week.  Unfortunately, with the exception of the stake presidency, the bishopric and the ward mission leader, it does not seem that many people in this area are excited about missionary work.

At the same time, I feel like I am getting a lot of verbal abuse from the elders in this district.  Elder Able is particularly good at dishing out this kind of abuse.  During team-ups yesterday he just about drove me up the wall.  His verbal shots were incredible; I tried to counter with something but that just made things worse.

Then I was the victim of a practical joke.  On Friday we received a couple of phone calls from the mission office.  Actually, while the person on the other end of the line said they were calling from the office, I think it was really Elder November talking through tissue paper.  Whoever it was, they said that I was in for a sub-line, or special transfer.

I figured it was a joke but I was not 100 percent positive.  Anyway, they said that they would be here at 9:00 p.m. on Monday to pick me up (why so late?).  Here was the dilemma: If it wasn’t real I would be packing for nothing and falling for the joke.  But if it was real and I didn’t pack. . . .  It was a no win situation, a real catch-22.  One reason I thought it was a joke was how little information they gave.  The only thing they said was that I would be going to Seaside Apartment.  Where is that?  I was awfully nervous because the set up seemed almost too good.

When we got home from church on Sunday – we had to bike it all the way down to Middlefield chapel because the ward mission leader, who usually drives us to church, was out of town.  Anyway, when we got home, Elder Lima said that President Douglas had called to say that both of us were being transferred.  That seemed to confirm it all for me, so I started packing.  A little later Elders Whopper and November dropped by our apartment.  When they saw that I had started packing they laughed and said it was all a joke and sub-line transfer was a made up term.  I had been had.

At first I sat in my room and sulked, but then I realized that I have been taking everything – all the verbal abuse and the jokes – too seriously.  I decided that I had to lighten up and so I changed my attitude.  I went out to the living room and laughed a long with everybody else.  It seemed as though a great weight was lifted off my shoulders.

On Monday evening, we had dinner with the ward mission leader's family, after which we watched a local broadcast of the church video Our Heavenly Father's Plan.  The ward mission leader had even invited a neighbor to join us.

It rained again on Tuesday, so naturally we ended up going shopping.  This morning we played some b-ball, and then some football in the afternoon.

Transfers are next Wednesday (so soon?) and Elder Lima thinks that I will be leaving -- he was right about Fox and Golf last transfer.  To be honest, I'm ready for a change, but if the Lord wants me to stay here a little while longer, I will.  I am still discouraged, but I have been asking myself how much I have learned here.  The answer is, a lot.

Love Douglas

--

On the back of the envelope I wrote:

Defeat in battle does not mean defeat in the war.

Victory in battle does not always mean victory in the war.

Defeat can turn to victory, and victory to defeat.

Be watchful and wary, but do not be afraid to be aggressive.

Do like Admiral William F. Halsey: Attack -- Attack -- Attack.

Week 13: Slow Week

April 13, 1988

We tracted on Thursday and Friday without much success.  Sunday was church as usual, then dinner with the ward mission leader's family.

On Monday, my companion bought a copy of Dale Carnegie's How to Win Friends and Influence People.  He is hoping to get some ideas on how to work with members.

In the afternoon we had our interviews with President Douglas. We had to ride all the way down to Middlefield chapel which is near the south end of our area. On the way I had a small accident but suffered no injury or damage to my bike or pants or anything else. We were hopping onto the side walk on the left side of the street; I went too wide and my front tire was on the grass. I tried to get it back up onto the sidewalk, but there was a bit of a lip and I toppled over instead.

In my interview with President Douglas I said that I was really discouraged. He said that he knew Palo Alto was a rough area to start in, but he was sure things would pick up. He was just so positive that it couldn’t help but rub off on me, at least for a while.

On Tuesday we went over to Stanford again with Elders Whopper and November. We went to the memorial church and while we were there a man asked me if we were Mormons. He said that he had a friend who was looking for us. We gave him our address and phone number.

We played basketball this morning and touch football in the afternoon.

This evening, we showed the video Our Heavenly Fathers Plan to a less-active member. She wants to become active but just can’t seem to do it. We did, however, commit her to bring up the video to her neighbors.

Sorry, but it wasn't an eventful week.

Love

Douglas

Week 12: New Start

April 6, 1988

This has been an interesting week.  On Thursday and Friday, we worked hard; we went around and checked on some part-member families, finding almost no one home, so we did some serious phone contacting Friday night.  We were able to set up a few appointments.

On Saturday and Sunday, we attended General Conference at the stake center.  Sitting in the chapel, dressed in Sunday best, made conference so much more special.

On Monday, we went on team-ups with the elders in Menlo Park -- actually, we went over to the Stanford bookstore before going up to the top of Hoover Tower and then visiting the Memorial Church.  We did find someone to chat with about the church, so my new comp is calling it pros-time [proselyting time].  I thought it was a waste.

We had a spiritual experience on Tuesday.  When I picked the streets we were going to tract, I prayed that the Spirit would guide me in my choices; I prayed that I would pick the streets that Heavenly Father wanted me to pick, a street where one of his sheep was ready for us to stop by.  After much prayer and consideration, I picked two streets and we headed out the door.

We stopped at the first street I had picked and locked up our bikes.  There was no interest at the first door, no one home at the second, but at the third this teenage girl answered.  Elder Lake gave the approach, "We're sharing a message about Jesus Christ today and if you have 15-20 minutes, we were wondering if we could come in and share that message with you?"  The girl replied, "Uh . . . yeah . . . I guess."

So in we went, and we taught most of the first discussion.  We talked mainly about the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith.  The girl seemed to be interested in what we had to say, but she said that she would have to talk to her parents about it first.  We had a closing prayer and gave her a pamphlet dealing with our Heavenly Father's plan for us, as well as a copy of the Book of Mormon.

We finished tracting that street, but no one else who was at home was interested.  We then went back to the flat for lunch.  But that is the only way to tract, by the Spirit.

After lunch, we went to see Leslie down on Corina.  We talked with her and gave her (finally!) a copy of the Book of Mormon.  Then we went and tracted the second street I had picked that morning.  That street didn't turn out as well as the first; we ran into a born-again Christian and had a near-bashing situation.  After that we went to see Lloyd; he was at home and we were able to commit him to hearing a discussion of Friday.  Things may be looking up.

This morning we went and played basketball at the stake center.  We had a few serious, physical games; I ended up on the floor a few times and banged up my left leg a bit.  After basketball, we went over to the Menlo Park apartment with Elders Whopper and November.  As we were sitting around, talking, there was a knock on the door.  Some J-dubs had knocked on the landlord's door, and he brought them back to chat with us.

At first, we pretended to be Stanford students -- we were still in our sweats and street clothes.  One of the other three elders, as part of our pretending, asked if they were Mormons; they said that they were not, of course, and then proceeded to rip on the church.  They said that Mormons believed that Jesus was God and that Mormons believed in the Holy Trinity; they also said that Mormons did not believe in the Bible.

Going along with the ruse, for the moment, I pretended that I had talked with some Mormon missionaries recently and said that they had told me that they believed in God the Father, the Son, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost.  One of them interrupted me to say that Mormons believed no such thing and, in any case, God and the Holy Ghost are one and the same.

It was at this point that we confessed that we were, in fact, Mormon missionaries.  I said that just yesterday, we had been out tracting and that I had had my Bible with me.  The J-dubs said again that we didn't believe in the Bible.  I picked up a copy of the Bible from a nearby table and turned to John 15:26:

"But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me."

One of the J-dubs, likely the senior of the two, countered by saying that God and the Holy Ghost are the same person and that the Spirit is only the force used by God.  I flipped back to John 14:26:

"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you" (emphasis added).

"Whom" would denote a separate person.  The J-dub pulled our her New World Translation, which changed "whom" to "which".  Now, I wasn't trying to bash, just present a scripture to support my beliefs [that's what I told myself, anyway].  I was trying to steer the discussion into the Joseph Smith story, but darn if they didn't keep on interrupting me.  The other three elders, my comp included, were no help -- they were trying to bash.

A discussion of competing translations got us briefly back to John 14:26, but from there all control was lost.  The senior J-dub continued to tell me that we didn't believe in the Bible, so I turned the copy I was holding so that she could see the spine, "See, The Holy Bible, King James Version."  I said it three times!

Eventually, the J-dubs decided to leave, and as they did so they parted with: "When the day of destruction arrives and Jehovah is come, and you are destroyed, just remember, we warned you!"  I shot right back, "And you just remember, we warned you."  Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Then they ran into the landlord, who said to them that he once looked into the J-dub faith.  Well, that got a reaction as they quickly condemned him to hell!

The whole experience was rather educational.  First, there is just no talking to J-dubs and, second, love and sincerity is where it is at.  Their whole attitude and approach were completely wrong, calling us to repentance and telling us over and over that we did not believe what we said we believed.  That's just not how you spread a message, whether you're a J-dub or an LDS missionary [you cannot antagonize and influence at the same time].  Instead, you should use love and sincerity.  We do not have the power to prove our words, that is the job of the Holy Ghost (may the Force be with you!).  If your message is truly from God, then you have no need to tear down the other person's beliefs.

 After all the excitement, the landlord, a member, took the four of us on a drive to San Gregorio Beach, on the Pacific side of the peninsula.  I love the ocean.

As I said, it was an interesting week.  Well, gotta go.

Love
Douglas

Plan of Salvation Cutouts

The other day I found the cutouts I used when teaching the Plan of Salvation.  I recall making these at a Tuesday night meeting during missionary prep.  The Plan of Salvation can be difficult to understand if you are an investigator, and some visual aids can be very helpful.

At first I thought I didn't have one that says "Pre-Earth Life" but it actually says that on the back of the first one.

It says "Resurrection" on the two arrows.