[Here is Ralph's e-mail from last Thursday.]
Hey everyone! Hope everything has been going well.
This week was pretty average. After emailing last week, we went to teach Alex, and Norka gave us dinner (it was big sub sandwiches with like, three sausages in them with an interesting mix of onions and bell peppers as well, it was good), and then after that we went home.
Thursday we did our studies, then went out and had a lesson with Vlad over Skype (he still asks super deep questions and I'm learning a lot just by studying specifically for the things that he keeps asking us about). Then we had lunch, then we started weekly planning. We did some online proselyting mixed in as well, then traveled to the temple to prepare for the family history Area Proselyting Focus that was going on (basically inviting people in to come discover their ancestors, it was really successful), so that was fun. Then we went over to Brother and Sister Harns' for dinner, they were really cool and it was fun to talk with them and they also made us some very tasty food! I'll have some stories to tell once I get back that they told us, some of them are a little outlandish for telling at the moment (long, whatever, I just felt like using outlandish). We then went home.
Friday, we studied and then went to the 15th street chapel to do some online proselyting and to set up our online event. We then had lunch/interviews with Sisters Jensen and Roberts (it was also Sister Jensen's birthday, so we pseudo-celebrated that as well. We then did some lookups of referrals, then went back to 15th chapel and had a lesson with Joseph about the Melchizedek Priesthood, then did our groceries (finally) and then came home for dinner. Elder Jensen decided to have a tuna sandwich (the monster), and so he pulled the tuna out of our cupboards . . . only to discover the best by dates on the cans were 2009 and 2011. He ate it anyhow after praying over it for 5 minutes. I, on the other hand, passed. He's still alive so I guess it couldn't have been too awful.
Saturday correlation meeting got bumped to Sunday afternoon, so we got to do studies (I've been on a conference talk binge). We then went and dropped by Marcus as well as a referral, but neither were home, so then we went to Anthony's for lunch. We taught him about the priesthood as he was getting the Aaronic priesthood on Sunday. We then had a lesson with Kim (the blind lady we met with on Tuesday), and the lesson was super amazing. We taught about the Restoration, and she was so ready to agree with everything, and then told us she'd even prayed about the church and had received the answer that it would be what was right for her. The spirit was super strong the whole lesson, and then Elder Jensen and I bore our testimonies and we were all blubbering like babies the whole time (I inherited Papa's weepyness). Sadly, she's moving to Brooklyn next week (ugh, why does she have to go to the South mission, the missionaries there are pretty disreputable according to pretty much everyone), so we'll probably teach her one more time. I don't doubt that she'll be baptized, here's just hoping that the missionaries in Brooklyn actually do something with her. We then went from her lesson to the 15th street chapel to do some online proselyting as well as to meet with the Hermanas to go together to give a less active Spanish sister a blessing. We then went from there to go do lookups, but as usual nobody was home. We then went and got dinner, and then came home.
Sunday we got to do studies, then we went to the Yamada's for lunch (brunch really, since we ate crepes with nutella, strawberries, blueberries, whipped cream, bananas, etc.), and then we went to ward council, then had church. Nobody from our teaching pool showed up for various reasons, so we got to enjoy a Sunday school lesson on Sodom and Gommorah and some of the details about it. Priesthood was good as well, and we learned about things that distract us from living Christlike lives. We then had ward correlation with all the ward missionaries there (that's a first), and then we had an interview with the Hermanas, then had our online event (people actually showed up this time!!!) We then went home and had dinner.
Monday we did personal study, then went off to district meeting and learned about recognizing the Spirit. We had lunch, then we did some online proselyting as well as worked on our talks for zone conference the next day (not that we were necessarily giving a talk, but since it's a random picked out of the audience sort of affair, then we needed to have talks prepared). We then went to dinner at the Egans (pretty sure no relation to ours), and then we went home (we do that a lot).
Tuesday we got up at 5:30 (blech), so that we could be ready and at the temple by 7:30 to set up for zone conference later that day, then we had breakfast (bagels with homemade chocolate chip cream cheese [I love Sister Morgan]), and then zone conference started. President Morgan started off the conference with how we need to work on becoming more consecrated as missionaries. We then got to hear from Elder and Sister Aldous, Elder Aldous being the mission doctor, so he talked about how we need to be healthy in order to be able to then focus on missionary work, and the main points mostly involved not doing completely idiotic things on P day so we don't kill ourselves. Sister Aldous talked about how to make sure our feet don't get entombed in fungi (always an entertaining subject). We then heard from Elder Kerr and Elder Passmore (the APs), Elder Kerr talking about how we need to focus on consecration as a companionship, while Elder Passmore spoke on how we can't straddle the line between the mission and home, and that we just need to lay everything on the altar of sacrifice and come completely into the mission. We then heard from 2 Elders (one being Elder Jensen and not me!!!!!), 2 Sisters and a Sister from a senior couple, who all spoke on how they personally are working towards becoming consecrated missionaries. We then had a talk from Sister Morgan, who talked about the blessings of turning to The Lord and focusing on the gospel of Jesus Christ. We then had some breakout sessions, the first one being with the APs and how to conduct inspired online events, and then the latter being spearheaded by one of the senior couples on how to help investigators with family history. We then all went to lunch (sandwiches!), then we gathered together for one last talk from President Morgan on holding nothing back (from Acts 4-5). Once that was all over, it was 5 o'clock, so we just did a little online proselyting and then went to dinner at the Foreman's (the place I went to on my first night in the field!) We then went home after that.
Wednesday was NOT P day (sadness), we had personal study, went and tried to visit Kim before she moved but the care center she lives (lived rather) in is goofy so they wouldn't let us up because apparently blind women in wheelchairs can be too busy packing to have five minutes to say goodbye. Anyhow, we then went to the church and had a lesson with Vlad (the deep question he asked for this week was what sort of position are we as Christians supposed to take in wars, pacifism or whatnot, it's complex, this ranks among his questions such as the need for both the Melchizedek and Aaronic Priesthoods, why the Aaronic Priesthood was not done away with along with the Mosaic Law, why we use water instead of wine [and if we are allowed to use anything, why don't we use wine], why blacks didn't receive the Priesthood until 1978 or whatever when Joseph Smith was giving them the Priesthood, and so forth *Ralph goes and sobs in a corner over having to think too much for this man*) SO ANYHOW, we then had lunch, did weekly planning, then went to Alex and read Book of Mormon stories, and then went to the Sorensons for dinner, they've been to Mittenwald because Bro. Sorenson served there (or near enough to visit it when he came back to Germany to visit) at one point on his mission, so that was fun to talk about. After that, we went home.
Today, we got up and did laundry, then cleaned up the apartment a bit, then came here! Today we're going to a rec center our member has to have some fun, then we have a dinner with the Browns.
Hope y'all have a great week!
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