Date
November 17, 2014
Area
Madison, Wisconsin
Companion
Elder Arbon
Arctic Tundra & An Actual Lesson!
It is very cold in Wisconsin! Like really, really cold! Like 11 degrees right now. However, everything keeps moving along like usual. Seriously though, I am absolutely loving Madison right now. It's funny how much snow reminds me of my childhood! We duck out into open buildings and ride the bus a lot more to try and stay as warm as we can. We had a fairly busy week so I'll try and write down as much as I can.
Monday: Not too much happened on Monday. We decided to be a little bit fancy for lunch, so we cooked up some fajitas. They weren't all that bad! P-day is a lot of fun here on campus because the institute building has a pool table, Ping-Pong table, and a foosball table. We stay pretty entertained. We spent a little time outside (it hadn't gotten that cold yet) and were able to talk with a couple of people. Then, for FHE we got to watch The Testaments. It's a pretty cheesy movie, but I forget that it actually isn't too bad. The very last scene especially, when Christ speaks to the dad and restores his sight is pretty powerful.
Tuesday: Tuesday was pretty weird. We were supposed to have a district training meeting that afternoon, so we decided that we'd eat lunch at the institute (like we usually do) then go straight into the meeting. Unfortunately, the institute's secretary, a female, was there and there wasn't any other responsible male in the building, so we had all five of the Elders over at our apartment for lunch. After that we street contacted until 3 so we knew we'd have the institute to ourselves. That night, Elder Arbon was able to interview Xi Lu (the trio's investigator) for his baptism. He passed! After that, we had another exchange so I spent the night at the other Elder's apartment with Elder Baird and Elder Anderson.
Wednesday: Wednesday was a pretty normal day, disregarding the fact that I had two different companions. We finished up studies and lunch around 1 and then hit the streets until dinner. I got to learn a lot by watching them street contact, and we ended up teaching about 15 lessons between the three of us. It was a lot of fun! Oh, and either Wednesday or Tuesday we started to get snow! It stuck for the first time Wednesday, I think. Either way, just know that it snowed this week and it is now very cold – ha, ha.
Thursday: Thursday morning we had a lesson with Kayla, the recent convert who texted us last Sunday. It was at 8 in the morning so it threw things off just a little bit. It was a really good lesson about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the importance of baptism. She is still hesitant to set a specific baptismal date, but I feel that she'll get there soon enough. Not all that much else happened the rest of the day. We spent a lot of time on the street, but the not as many people are interested in talking with us in 20 degree weather. Elder Borgholthaus (my MTC companion) spent the night Thursday night! He's in our zone and we had new missionary training in Oshkosh the next day, so he and his companion, Elder Parry, had to give us a ride.
Friday: We got up at 5:30 so we had enough time to get ready and leave by 6:30 for our 9 o'clock meeting at Oshkosh. It was a little rough, but I was way excited to see all of the MTC guys again. The meeting was absolutely wonderful. We have such amazing leadership in this mission and I feel incredibly blessed to spend time with them. We spent a lot of time talking about how we can use the Book of Mormon better in our teaching, and also about this survey we'll be using as a finding method. It sounds like it will be an extremely effective method to really help out the work here in Wisconsin. After we got back from Oshkosh, Xi Lu took all of the missionaries out to a super legit Chinese restaurant called Soga. Dad, you'd love this place. Xi Lu said it's one of the few places in Madison to have legit Chinese food. Of course, I ordered the sesame chicken – ha,ha. It was probably the best sesame chicken I've ever had though!
Saturday: Saturday rocked! We had a double baptism at the Regent St. building with Xi Lu and Shay, a girl that will be going to the YSA ward but was taught by sisters. It was really cool and I was so happy for both of them. Xi Lu was so funny in the water. When he grabbed onto Elder Wiscombe's arm, he wasn't sure whether or not to plug his nose so he get plugging and unplugging. He's awesome. We also got the transfer text that afternoon. Nothing really changed for us, except Elder Wiscombe was leaving after 5(!) transfers (or 7 1/2 months) on campus. It's going to be hard to see him go, but I'm excited for him! After that, weekly planning sucked away the rest of our Saturday, as usual.
Sunday: Sunday was another great day! I got to help Zhen (the Chinese recent convert) bless the sacrament for the first time, Xi Lu and Shay got confirmed, I got to stand in while Peter (another Chinese convert) was ordained as an Elder, a former investigator showed up to church, and some random guy showed up with his less active girlfriend just to learn more about the church. It was kind of the perfect Sunday! The random guy was named Devin and he said he had a great time. Hopefully we'll be able to meet with him again soon! During elders quorum, Xi Lu was so stinkin funny. We usually have a spotlight where we get to ask questions and learn a little more about member of the ward, but we weren't sure who had it this week. So, Xi Lu decided that he wanted to do it so he just hopped up there. He started off by telling everyone how he used to play video games a lot, and he lived a somewhat unhealthy lifestyle. Then, while he was living in Chicago, he got hit by a car(!) and decided to start living healthier. That's when he started "Joggle-ing" (jogging) and swimming. He said he's also started to lift weights "so I can be a true man!" We were all dying! Then, one of the other members of the quorum asked Xi Lu if he had a girlfriend. He said "Currently, no. Previously... no" I was laughing so hard. I seriously love this guy so much. He has such a powerful testimony and I'm so excited to see him as he grows spiritually.
This was another great week! I really love getting to know all of these people like Xi Lu and growing to love them so much in such a short period of time. It's a not-so-happy reminder that this is all temporary seeing Elder Wiscombe leave. I really have grown close to him and he is a great friend. I'm continuing to learn so much and I can hardly believe I'm already done with my first transfer. I love and miss you all and really enjoy hearing from ya’ll. Take care!
Elder Christian