Today is TR's one year anniversary from the day he stepped off the plane and back into real life from his mission! Wow! Time flies! Lets do a little recap of his mission shall we?
Disclaimer: At this point I turn the computer and blogging experience over to TR! I am not responsible for anything he chooses to put on here.
How do you sum up 2 years as dynamic and life changing as a mission? There is so much to say and so much i can include but there isn't time or space to put every crazy story, great time, sad time, friend or foe. So for sake of time it'll have to be a brief overview. All right then lets start at the very beginning shall we?
MTC
I started in the MTC (go figure) with my first companion Elder Brusch from Salt Lake City. We were young and crazy and have a lot of fun being cramped up in the MTC during winter.
This is the traditional "I'm going here" shot by the world map.
BURIEN
This is me, asleep on a recliner after a hard morning of tracting.
This is my second district. Top row from left: Brother and Sister Wright, Elder Duarte the Zone leader, Elder Hilsabeck, myself, Elder Morley, Elder Neilsen.
Bottom row: Elder Seegmiller, Elder Capua, Elder York, and Elder Corroles.
My Trainer, Elder Hilsabeck
My First area was Burien. Its a small neighborhood in the poor side of south Seattle. It really is a lovely place with some great people. I have some great memories of my time there. My companion was Elder Hilsabeck from Las Vegas, NV. we sure had some great missionaries in that zone.I met great people we even baptised one his name was James he was 85 years old and was referred to us after we got to know Sister Mary-Louise Botler a colorful 70-year-old lady from Alabama. The Wei family was also good to us she was Vietnamese and made some great food. It is at her house that I got my first real taste of exotic foods, pig skin ears and intestines, cow tongue and tendon, chicken gizzards and feet, and jellyfish. It was a great ward and the beginning of a great adventure. Looking back at it all it was a great adventure to leave behind everything I knew and jump into something and somewhere so much bigger than anything I had done before. Really when I think of Burien I remember how every day was an adventure every thing was exciting and I was in an exciting new place.
SEATTLE
The view from Kerry Park on Queen Anne Hill.
Elder Baldwin
Elder Sharp and I with our ward mission leader.
Proselyting on the University of Washington campus With Elder Peni.
After a little over 2 transfers in Burien I was "ET"ed to Seattle itself. (It is a long story about another missionary) I came to serve with Elder Baldwin of Sandy, UT for the next 5 weeks. I can tell you stories, long looooong stories (So can the other Elder). For length and to avoid the subject we'll skip to Elder Sharp of Yorba Linda, Orange County California. We worked very hard and had some very good investigators. None of whom ended up baptised while I was there but all of who turned their lives around entirely. It was a hard area, we covered the entirety of the Seattle from downtown north it was two singles wards on the University of Washington campus. I can talk for hours about the places we went the things we saw and the people we taught. It was a beautiful area with some of the greatest attractions Seattle has to offer, but it was a hard area. The work was rough and the stress was high, but it was rewarding nonetheless. We taught Walter Hunt, Derek Jacobsen, a few other really solidly progressing investigators. One of whom, Kristina Goudy, ended up getting baptised a few months after I left the area. (by Elder Powell who I would later serve with.)
FEDERAL WAY
Elder Brusch infront of the wall of empty soda cans we made in our apartment. (its a funny story)
Elder Okano with Maddie, we were teaching a less active family, Maddie thought i was her Uncle Grimm
After 6 months in Seattle proper, I was transferred to Federal Way. A small suburb between Tacoma and Seattle. It truly was a suburb, there were houses everywhere. We covered a few square (at least as square as things can get in Seattle) blocks. Surprisingly my companion at that time was Elder Brusch, my old MTC Companion. We used to joke that we were both co-junior companions with no senior companion to guide us. We met some great families there and that's where I spent the holidays. We really had a great time, we taught many people and helped many less active and non active members come back to church. My second companion in that area was Elder Okano of San Jose, CA he was a little Japanese elder, he weighed 110 pounds. He was a lot of fun and he taught me a lot about life and happiness. He taught me that we make the situation positive or negatives, it all depends on how you look at it and how you react. President Newell from the mission presidency put it: life is 10% what happens to you 90% what you make of it. Those were some great times and that rounded out my first year.
KENT
Elder Richards on the phone, he was a district leader, he spent a lot of time on the phone getting nightly reports.
Elder Kenney on the water diet.
Elder Peaden.
Me with Karl Nelson and Family. We taught dakota the son the lessons.
After 2 transfers in Federal Way I was sent to Kent. Its another suburb this time though i wasn't on the coast of the Puget Sound I was landlocked. I was sent to serve with Elder Richards from St. George, UT for his last transfer. It was a good time and we did some great work. We had a rough district but amazingly even though we were the most diverse group I've ever met, we had a great time and we all worked well together. This is maybe the greatest lesson I've learned is that it doesn't matter who you are or where you are from you can get along and make things work. One good mission companion/friend and I have absolutely nothing in common in terms of like and dislikes but we worked way hard and we had a great time. After Elder Richards was Elder Kenney from Mesa, Arizona. He was funny little Elder, he had a Pace-Maker and a great attitude. At the end of my second transfer and Elder Kenney's final transfer, we were joined by Elder Powell (of Gilbert, Arizona) for a few weeks and we covered 3 areas. That was a lot of work and a lot of fun. really odd being in a 3 man companionship though. After that I was with Elder Peaden of West Jordan, UT. We taught as much as we could and I sure did meet a lot of great people in that ward, one of my favorites was Karl Nelson, he was a less active, but sincerely seeking man and we helped him get back in church by bringing the spirit into his home. He missed the feeling of having it around and eventually returned to full activity and is now trying to set a temple date with his wife. Karl was a great friend. Also in this area I met some of the greatest families and examples of saints that I have ever seen, the LeDoesquets the Stephen and Ambra Wadley, some of the most faithful and happy people I have ever met. I served in Kent for a great 6 months and was sad when I had to leave the area.
AUBURN
My (third or fourth) bike finally died. I used a lot of bikes on my mission.
I was then transferred to the south end of that Zone to serve in Auburn. Its a small run down type of town not as affluent as Kent but had some great people. I only served a single transfer in this area with Elder Preston from East Carbon, UT. We tried to help the people we could.
BELLEVUE
Elder Seiuli
Elder Raymond
Tracting, thats somebody's driveway.
Tracting in the rain, as always.
Jason and Katie Stone.
Bellevue is the rich and upcoming version of Seattle, its the home of Amazon, T-mobile, Microsoft Post It and numerous other technology companies. It has the most affluent people in the world. (Bill gates lived in the ward next to our area.) It was a great area and I first served with Elder Seiuli (Say-you-lee) of Compton/Long Beach, California. We worked well and I met the second man that I ever taught that got baptised, Jason Stone was his name, he was married to Katie who was less active for a long time. Jason actually told the bishop she would speak one sunday, which led to her reactivation, which led us to them, which led to his getting baptised. He and Katie were great friends. The next and my final transfer, I served with Elder Raymond of Sandy. We were one of the most senior companionships in the mission. I would leave the next transfer and he left the one after. We worked well and had almost nothing in common. but Ray (his official nickname) and I are good friends. I met some great families here specifically the Murri family, and the Galuka family, both of whom have been good enough to come and visit. We also got to do a lot of service and help out several people due to major winter storms in the area. It was a fun time and was one of the shining moments of my mission.
And then the plane ride home. That's Mt. Rainier
In summary, My mission was the hardest and most trying time of my life. It forced me to grow in ways I never thought people could grow. It made me stretch and see more than I could ever have seen on my own. And though it was hard work and at times discouraging, and even though, personally, some of my darkest moments were on my mission, I became for a brief few years a direct servant of our Master Jesus Christ and was placed as an under-shepherd to teach the souls that I was foreordained to teach. It was the best opportunity for me to learn who I really am and how I fit in the plan of my Father in heaven. I learned to lean on His arm, to follow His spirit and to walk the path that our Saviour led. Even though I have some regrets about my mission, and I look back and wish I could have learned those lessons an easier way; I know that my mission helped me to be who I am today. I know that through the grace of God and His tender mercies, serving my mission helped to bring Rachel and I together.
I think it is only right to end with my testimony of my Saviour, Jesus Christ. I know personally that he lives, and that he is always near us. I know that he loves me, and I have felt his arms of love lifting me. I know his voice, I have heard him and I can say that I never wish to stray from Him. I know with all my heart that there is a Prophet who leads this church and that the spirit watches over all of the Lord's saints. Young and old, bond and free, rich or poor. We are all His, and He will always watch over us. I know one day that we will all meet before his feet and I will have joy in seeing all of my family there.
I share this in the name of my Beloved Saviour, Jesus Christ, Amen.
