06/29/2020
Date
July 1, 2020
Area
Pontypridd, Wales
Companion
Elder Anderson
06/29/2020
It's been an interesting last couple of weeks. I've come to learn that there are some experiences in life that you wish you remember forever and others that you wish you could forget the next day. These last few weeks have been full of both. I've lost some close friends in the mission and it's been extremely hard to see them go and to just be left in the same spot in the same situation just without them. But man's extremity is truly God's opportunity. These experiences over the last few weeks, although hard, have taught me a great deal about life and how to be proactive instead of reactive and for that I'm grateful.
The work has been pretty hectic since my companion, Elder Anderson, and I are now covering four areas. I'm not complaining though, I like the organized chaos. I'd much rather be busy than just wasting away while staring mindlessly at the wall or something.
We had an extremely interesting experience this last week specifically. One of our friends who we have been teaching for 5 months turned out to be a catfish. Obviously not in the literal way but in the way that she wasn't who she said she was. Apparently she has been baptized multiple times in the church and seems to have some weird obsession with being taught by missionaries. She has built up quite a reputation in the Manchester mission for essentially scamming missionaries into teaching and baptizing her. She is definitely very good at what she does and has a variety of detailed and lie filled backstories mixed with bits of truth. I was baffled when some sister missionaries in the Manchester mission reached out to me to inform us that she was a fraud. We went through some of her other alias Facebook accounts and found multiple pictures of previous baptisms, her at the temple, and even one of her as a missionary which definitely took me back quite a bit. Overall, I found it interesting how you can be under such a strong impression that you know someone quite well and in truth not know anything about them at all. I have seemed to been dealt a life lessons of warranted trust and caution before investing in someone emotionally. We video called her every day and she was a really good friend to us, or so we thought. We prayed and fasted to help her through her "trials", introduced her to ward members, and I even had my mom on a lesson with her. Although I have my theories as to what could drive someone to do such a thing, I learned a lot of good lessons from the experience that will definitely stick with me due to how dramatized and sudden this experience was.
We have transfers coming up this week and I'm getting a feeling that I'm moving. I have been in Pontypridd for nearly six months now and have heard through the grape vine that president is planning on moving missionaries around quite a lot. I personally hate the secrecy of transfers and how we don't find out what's going on until a day before we're supposed to leave. I think it's almost cruel. But, as of now, that is out of my circle of control and I am determined too be a result of my decisions and not my circumstances. I have tried to implement that principle by mentally and physically preparing myself to leave, since it's usually a lot easier to cope with the sudden knowledge that you are staying than leaving. I am also working on making some documents for the two areas I'm covering so that the missionaries who come in after me know what to do with people we are teaching. Regardless of how much I prepare to leave Pontypridd, I will still be sad to leave. This place is the cradle of my testimony and I love the people here more than I ever thought possible.
I hope everyone is doing well,
-Elder Brendan Pricer
The work has been pretty hectic since my companion, Elder Anderson, and I are now covering four areas. I'm not complaining though, I like the organized chaos. I'd much rather be busy than just wasting away while staring mindlessly at the wall or something.
We had an extremely interesting experience this last week specifically. One of our friends who we have been teaching for 5 months turned out to be a catfish. Obviously not in the literal way but in the way that she wasn't who she said she was. Apparently she has been baptized multiple times in the church and seems to have some weird obsession with being taught by missionaries. She has built up quite a reputation in the Manchester mission for essentially scamming missionaries into teaching and baptizing her. She is definitely very good at what she does and has a variety of detailed and lie filled backstories mixed with bits of truth. I was baffled when some sister missionaries in the Manchester mission reached out to me to inform us that she was a fraud. We went through some of her other alias Facebook accounts and found multiple pictures of previous baptisms, her at the temple, and even one of her as a missionary which definitely took me back quite a bit. Overall, I found it interesting how you can be under such a strong impression that you know someone quite well and in truth not know anything about them at all. I have seemed to been dealt a life lessons of warranted trust and caution before investing in someone emotionally. We video called her every day and she was a really good friend to us, or so we thought. We prayed and fasted to help her through her "trials", introduced her to ward members, and I even had my mom on a lesson with her. Although I have my theories as to what could drive someone to do such a thing, I learned a lot of good lessons from the experience that will definitely stick with me due to how dramatized and sudden this experience was.
We have transfers coming up this week and I'm getting a feeling that I'm moving. I have been in Pontypridd for nearly six months now and have heard through the grape vine that president is planning on moving missionaries around quite a lot. I personally hate the secrecy of transfers and how we don't find out what's going on until a day before we're supposed to leave. I think it's almost cruel. But, as of now, that is out of my circle of control and I am determined too be a result of my decisions and not my circumstances. I have tried to implement that principle by mentally and physically preparing myself to leave, since it's usually a lot easier to cope with the sudden knowledge that you are staying than leaving. I am also working on making some documents for the two areas I'm covering so that the missionaries who come in after me know what to do with people we are teaching. Regardless of how much I prepare to leave Pontypridd, I will still be sad to leave. This place is the cradle of my testimony and I love the people here more than I ever thought possible.
I hope everyone is doing well,
-Elder Brendan Pricer
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