Week 96 (8/24/20) Just a Few Experiences

 Just a few experiences to share this week:

I had the opportunity to interview three baptismal candidates. I love having that experience, because they are so open to the spirit and so excited for the step they are about to make. In each interview, I closed by talking about the Sacrament, and how we make the same covenant when we partake of the Sacrament that we do when we are baptized. As I was teaching this principle, it hit me again how important the Sacrament is in our lives. Here I was, interviewing these people to ensure they were prepared for the covenant they were about to make. But who interviews me every week before I partake of the Sacrament? That is an opportunity that I have each week to evaluate my own desire. That is one thing that is so powerful about our covenants, D&C 20:37 talks about how one of the main requirements for a baptismal candidate is desire, the interview questions ask if you are willing to strive, and Alma asked about the desires of the people's hearts. We are not turned away from the Sacrament table because we aren't perfect yet. Instead, it is a perfecting tool that we have been given to strengthen and help us. 

We did have a change this week, we are now allowed to eat and teach in members homes when invited, so that is an exciting step forward. We got to eat with a couple of member families, and it was awesome just to get to see people in person and have a real conversation. 

We have been teaching this one friend, A__, for awhile, just over the phone. We texted him when we found out that we could teach in person again, but he responded in a bit of a weird way, saying he wouldn't be living there. We were pretty worried, and then his wife (who we have never talked to) texted us out of the blue and asked us to call. It turns out that he had gotten into some things that were really detrimental and self-destructive, and they were just reaching out for support. After praying with her, and ourselves starting a fast, we called up our bishop and relief society president. I just appreciate how willing the church is to give assistance in every circumstance, even to people who we have never met. 

Elder Gregory and I are on a quest to see some alligators, but who knows, they might come swimming up the street during the impending flood. The first two parks we checked for them were gator-less, but we did see a doe only about 20 feet from us, so that was pretty cool. 

Have a great day, have a great week, have a great life (credit the previous Elder DeFord)

Elder DeFord

Week 95 (8/17/2020) Giant Spiders?

 

Dear y'all,

 

Honestly, it was a pretty long, boring week. But, since we are officially a Facebook mission (tm), and have been tasked with creating quality content, I should probably muster the strength to write some sort of a weekly anyways.

 

So, we finally got our Facebook training...which was all information we had already received, pretty much. We are supposed to create content that can then be posted either on our personal page or on the zone's Facebook page. However, only one companionship is assigned to reach out to those who interact with the page, and they are supposed to get the people who are interested to the right missionaries. Functionally, that means that we are not really using Facebook after all, since we aren't going to be doing any real proselyting after all. 

 

Elder Soares has apparently given our area the go to move to phase one of covid de-quarantining. Which, I suppose is hopeful, although the list of things we are allowed to do didn't really look different. We will find out more about that tomorrow, though. 

 

We had a virtual zone conference this week with President Piper, the area president. He really emphasized seeking revelation in the work and following the spirit. 

 

On Saturday we got to do some service in feels-like-110 degree weather, which was fun. 

 

Oh, I suppose I should mention. Should anyone be concerned for my safety because some missionaries here in Houston had their apartment broken into (not that that actually has any correlation to my safety, as long as it wasn't my apartment, but nonetheless) I am safe and secure. The missionaries are in the Houston mission, so I don't know them or have any other details. 

 

Now for your story for the week. Last Sunday, we got a referral named L__, and gave her a call. We had a great little conversation, and she was excited to do a Bible study with us on Tuesday. Tuesday rolls around, we give her a call, and teach a lesson about fasting, as that was the topic she had requested. Near the end of the lesson, I asked "when we talked last time, you talked about wanting to strengthen your relationship with your daughter, right?"  I don't think I have ever been more consternated than when she responded "No. You have the wrong number, I don't have a daughter." At this point I am frantically wracking my brain: I remember our Sunday conversation vividly, I know she had a daughter..."this is L__, right?" I ask, searching for some explanation. "Yes", she responded. Thoroughly confused, we set a return appointment with her anyways, and awkwardly end the call. A quick look into area book revealed my mistake. Last week we got two separate referrals named L__, L__ J and L__ W. When I had put in the information for L__ W's lesson, I had accidentally listed L__ J, so we called her instead. Laughing at our foolishness, we gave the right L__ a call and taught her the same lesson on fasting. Actually, we are fasting with her today! 

 

Well, seeing as I have now written enough to prove my continued existence (assuming that this wasn't typed by the giant spider who caught me in its web and assumed my identity) I will end here. I hope everyone has a great week!

 

Elder DeFord

 

Week 94 (8/10/2020) Facebook?

 

Hey y'all,

 

 

While Facebook has been live for a couple of weeks now, our zone isn't getting our training until this next Sunday, I think, so we won't really be doing anything with it until then. Even after that, most of the posts will be going through a zone page, and not my personal one. So, for anyone wondering about how social media has changed my mission, so far it has been pretty underwhelming. 

 

One thing the church does do on social media is pay for advertisements that encourage people to get in touch with missionaries. Once they put in their information, we get a referral notice and can reach out. The only problem is, many of them have no idea what they are signing up for! I had one of the Come unto Christ ads pop across my screen, so I signed up just to see what experience everyone else was having. It took me only about 10 seconds and then our phone buzzed with a new referral of Adam DeFord. The ad I had seen was to have missionaries pray with me, but nothing in our referral request showed that. The system really just needs to be slightly fine-tuned, as many times we will call one of these referrals and they either won't know that they were referred or will have no interest in what we are actually doing. One lady told us that they must have misunderstood her request...and I'm sure we did, since we don't know what the original request was!

 

That being said, we did talk to one referral who was just so excited to start studying the Bible with us, so we are happy to start teaching her. Although, again, we came into the first contact with different expectations. She was expecting a Bible study, and all we knew is that she had seen some ad about the church and clicked on it. But, thankfully she was vocal about what she wanted, so we could set up to help her out. 

 

The S__s are doing well. We set up to start teaching their oldest two kids Sundays after church. We would be teaching the younger two as well, but they promptly ran out of the room and up and down the hallway. We didn't expect that they would be able to sit and listen, though. They will pick it all up in primary, once primary is a thing again. 

 

Our restrictions have eased up a little bit, so we can now teach people or eat with members on their porches. Teaching isn't really the difficulty, however! Finding new people to teach without being able to contact them is the real challenge, but they are hopeful that Facebook is going to help somewhat with that. 

 

Signing off,

Elder DeFord

 

Week 93 (8/3/2020) Cut to the Chase

 

Let's cut to the chase, shall we?

 

Transfers went relatively smoothly, although Elder Gregory, Elder Safsten, and I were in a trio for a night. Elder Safsten took one for the team and slept on the couch for his last night, before heading off to Pasadena the next day.

 

Thursday Facebook hit our phones, which honestly wasn't that exciting. Although it did make my mission, which already hardly feels like a mission, feel less like a mission. But we are all good here. 

 

Now for the miracle. You know we have been working with the S__'s. Well, during our Thursday night lesson, they asked what they needed to do to move forward with their rebaptism, so we talked about that a little, and they were talking to Bishop today. Well, around 11 am on Sunday, Bishop calls us and tells us he interviewed them and they were good to move forward with the baptism. Sweet! And then he said this little gem: "are y'all busy this afternoon?" Long story short, we scrambled to get baptismal clothing and to get the font filled, and at 3:15 Sunday afternoon I was standing in the font with Bro S__. They asked me to perform the baptisms and confirmations, and it was a very humbling and powerful experience.  

 

I am so incredibly grateful that I have been able to be here for their journey, and to feel the spirit which has been around them. My whole mission, I never really felt like I was there for anyone we were teaching-any given missionary could have been in my place. And of course, that is as true in this case as well, God can do His own work through whichever instrument He chooses. But still, there was something special about working with the S__s. I love their family, and I am so grateful for their faith and trust and humility. They are an awesome example to me. It has to be so hard to return, but they have met the challenge head on, and done some amazing things. 

 

May God bless us all with the humility to follow and trust Him.

 

Elder DeFord

 

Week 92 (7/27/2020) Countenance Journal

 

Countenance Journal? Visage Grimoire? Expression library? Oh! Facebook!

 

That is right, after 21 months of my mission, we are getting Facebook this week. It will be a learning experience putting everything together and figuring out how to work over social media, but it will be a new challenge for sure. Stay tuned, we may be getting Instagram too.

 

Transfers is this week, although pday didnt change days this time around. I am staying here with Elder Gregory as my new companion. He goes home this transfer, so this ward is going to be dropping missionaries like flies. I will also be returning to district leader duties, so President isn't quite letting me just cruise out these last few months without having to make phone calls. 

 

We had our last two musical firesides this week, and those went well. 

 

The S__'s are doing awesome, I think they were supposed to have met with the stake president this Sunday, so we will hopefully learn later how that went. But things are going well with them. 

 

Well, other things probably happened, but I will leave you in dramatic suspense. And...coming soon to a social media platform near you.

 

Elder DeFord

 

Week 91 (7/20/2020) I Believe in Christ

 

The weeks continue trudging along. This is week six of the transfer, so next week will be transfers and p-day will be on Tuesday. 

 

We had two more of the musical firesides this week, including the one for our ward. Not very many people were able to make it, but it went very well. Everyone tells me that they can hear me bearing my testimony when I play "I Believe in Christ" what they don't realize is that all that is running through my head is a frantic desperation to hit all the notes  I'll see if I can include a recording, though. 

 

The S__'s are doing really well. We had a lesson with them on Tuesday, and Bishop joined the zoom call with them. Again, they are just absolutely amazing. They have really chosen to be all in. We talked with Bishop, and he said that they should be cleared for rebaptism within the month. Their oldest son, who is ten, has said he is really enjoying all of it. (Also, dad, sidenote: you know that tie you got from Mr.Macs that looked like Joseph's tie of many colors? I think that J__, the ten year old, has the same tie. Pretty fun)

 

We got back in touch with the A__O__ family, and they agreed to do a zoom call with us for a lesson this week, so hopefully that works out. I don't know how to teach 14 people on a video chat, but then, I hardly know how to teach that many in person either. 

 

Oh, I guess I should mention that it was my birthday, and I am officially no longer a teenager. It threw me for a loop when someone first asked how old I was and I said "twenty".

 

Well, that is the highlight reel. Hope everyone is staying safe from the virus, and not getting too moldy from sitting at home all day. Of course, you may have fewer problems with mold if you live in a less humid environment. Anyways!

 

Elder DeFord

 

Week 90 (7/13/2020) Carnegie Chapel

 

Hey y'all,

 

As you probably have heard, given the fact that y'all get a lot more news than I do, corona cases have spiked recently. Unfortunately, that includes a couple of our missionaries. And, unfortunately, the powers that be decided that that means we were unsafe, and increased our quarantine restrictions. We can still go to church, but that is about it for us.

 

Update on all the fellas we are teaching...unfortunately, because of the increased restrictions, we were not able to go over and teach the A__O__s, and haven't been able to get in contact with them. 

 

The M__s are doing really well, T__'s brother is coming down to baptize him....in November, but at least there is a goal. 

 

Really cool story: last Sunday, we had a brother come to church who had had his records removed from the church, but because of a recent spiritual experience had felt, with his wife, the desire to maybe come back. We met with him and his wife over zoom on Thursday, and they are so amazing! Even just two weeks ago, they were dead-set against coming back to church, and now they are reading from the Book of Mormon, they brought their whole family to church on Sunday, and they feel very strongly the need to return. The Lord works in truly miraculous ways, and I am grateful that I get to be an observer of it all. 

 

We had the first of our musical firesides on Sunday, with the Spanish ward. Because of gathering restrictions, we are doing a separate one for each ward. It was the first time I had ever performed a piano solo, and I did not one but two solo songs, but they went okay. Definitely not Carnegie hall level, but as long as no one in the audience had a metronome they probably didn't notice my time wandering. Or they just thought it was "artistic license" and that slowing down right before a hard chord is "stylistic". Which is what we are going to call it. 

 

Those are the big things. I love being here, I love testifying of Christ and His Gospel most of all! He lives, and He loves, and He invites each of us to know Him for ourselves. 

 

Love,

Elder DeFord

 

Week 89 (7/6/2020) Pictures

 

Week 89 (7/6/2020) The Passing of the Torch

 

In one third of missions worldwide, this was an exciting week. After approximately 621 days as my Mission President and companion, the Hewlett's returned home, and the Larkins stepped in. I am saddened to see the Hewletts leave, but I will get to see them again soon enough. 

 

While the Hewlett's returned home on Tuesday, we were going to meet the Larkins at zone conference on Friday, so the week was a strange in between period, where I had never met my mission president. 

 

On Wed, Thu, and Sat, for about 5 hours each day, we helped a member in the Spanish ward fill underneath a portion of his house with thick clay to ward off standing water and flooding when it rains. I feel bad for Elder Safsten, he was the only one there who didn't speak Spanish! I also feel bad for the member...after we had filled in all he wanted, and probably moved 7 cubic yards of this clay, he still had more than half of his original pile of dirt. 

 

This was somewhat of a service week, we also had the opportunity to help a member in our ward move back into her house after mold moved her out. The best part was getting to assemble a bunk bed. You may now refer to me as fix it Felix. Anyone know if the sequel was any good? Well, anyways. 

 

Friday we met President Larkin. When we arrived and I started playing prelude, he wasn't there, so I wondered if he was just planning on making a dramatic entrance right when we started the conference. I was trying to think of some good walk up music to play, but it turns out that he had just gotten lost, it being his first time to the Summerwood building. He and his wife seem really nice! He is a marathon runner, accountant by training (I am still not sure what he really did for his job, though), originally from Utah but that is a forgivable sin. And he is already shaking the foundations of our mission, announcing that we would, sometime in the not too distant future, be getting Facebook as a mission. I am feeling like an old dog, though, who isn't ready to learn new tricks. We will see how I feel about it once it gets implemented. 

 

Other than that, we got to teach the A__O__s on Wednesday, taught them about our living prophet, President Nelson. In preparation for our lesson, I read through several of his recent addresses. I am so grateful for how in tune he is with the spirit and the needs of this church! I truly know that he is a prophet called of God. We live in an amazing time!

 

Well, I didn't take any pictures, again, but don't worry, I still look about the same as always. All y'all take care

 

Elder DeFord

 

Week 88.1 (6/30/3030) Semi-Daily Update

 

Still alive

 

Tried to put a nice fellow named A__ on date, but he was "too busy". Really good lesson, though. 

 

The zone is putting on missionary concerts, and I am probably playing almost all of the accompaniments with less than two weeks of practice (I don't even know what people want to sing yet) so that should be fun. 

 

To answer mom's question, black. (in answer to what color pants do you need)

 

As for pictures....I want you to think about Despicable Me. Then I want you to think about the scene where he is explaining that the bank turned him down for a loan. All of the minions are surrounding him as he sadly says..."money? We don't have any money". And then I want you to imagine that he said "pictures". 

 

Good-night!

 

Week 88 (6/29/2020) This is the Moment

 

The Hewletts had zone conferences with everyone this week so they could have a last opportunity to see everyone and leave some final teachings, we had ours on Tuesday. Sister Hewlett extracted a promise from all of us that we wouldn't talk about them once the Larkins took over, which is probably fair. 

 

However, zone conferences weren't enough for them, and technology makes that easy, so we had an actual final devotional with them last night. Elder Safsten and I performed a musical number for it, "Everywhere I Go", with very little notice, but it turned out well. It is sad to see them leave, they have been so stalwart and such a big part of my mission experience. The change will definitely be a little strange. 

 

We had some good lessons the rest of our week. On Wednesday we taught the A__O__family, reading 1st Nephi with them. There are a few of them who really seem to have interest and a desire for it. After the lesson we sang "I am a Child of God" for them. 

 

One cool thing, I feel, is the way some people react to us calling them. Obviously the majority of those who answer hang up on us. But then sometimes people really feel touched by it. One fellow, who we had been teaching previously but had a hard time contacting, talked about how he really felt touched by it. Yesterday, we called a random number, the man was originally from Texas but was in the military, and he was so grateful for the message. Several times he just mentioned how thankful he was. 

 

And that will be the experience with anyone who has a softened heart. I think sometimes we are afraid to be bold about opening our mouths, because we are afraid of rejection. But our message is awesome! And many people will receive our testimonies with joy, because the spirit will be there, and without the gift of the Holy Ghost, each taste of the spirit to others is novel and as refreshing as a spring in the desert.  

 

One strange thing about my life now is that Elder Safsten has language study every day. So I also do language study, on duolingo. I think I will soon start learning Spanish from German, and German from Spanish, so I can really confuse my brain. 

 

Let us see, what else fun happened. Well, Elder Safsten and I wrestled, and he couldn't pin me in two 7 minute rounds. I mean, I also couldn't pin him, but no one expected me to in the first place, so I wasn't too fussed about it. 

 

Ah, I also cut Elder Safsten's and the two Spanish Elders who live in our complex's hair (and my own) in preparation for President Larkin's arrival. It is a lot of trust someone gives you when they let you at their head with a razor and scissors. Probably misplaced trust, in this case, but no one came out with bald spots. 

 

Well, signing out,

Elder DeFord

Week 87 (6/23/2020) Zone Conference

 

We had our very last zone conference with the Hewletts today, which was sad. President Hewlett talked about having a vision for ourselves right and, and for the future. Sister Hewlett made me pinky promise that I would come visit after I get home. 

 

Äldste Säfsten and I baked and delivered an apple pie. Well, mostly he baked it. I did slice apples, so pretty much that means I contributed. 

 

I also realized that in the zone conference there was only one missionary who had been out longer than me. Crazy feeling. Of course, in the whole mission there is only a couple. 

 

Have a wonderful beautiful night. Gute nacht, ich lebe und brauche etwas Schlaf. Ihr auch brauchst Schlaf. Alle brauchen Schlaf. 

 

Tchüss

 

Elder DeFord

Week 86.2 (6/21/2020) Eaglesnest

 

I think I will just keep making Eagle puns for as long as I am in this area. 

 

First, Äldste Säfsten (Elder Safsten). He was called originally to Sweden, but unfortunately Sweden closed their borders while he was in the MTC, so he was reassigned here. He has an hour of Swedish language study every day, in the which I study German. We often compare the two languages. They have some similarities. Let us see...he is from Auburn WA, which I am familiar with from marching band. He did a lot of theatre back home as well. He loves to cook, and we enjoyed some traditional Swedish dishes on Midsummers day (Thursday) which marks a traditional Swedish holiday. 

 

My first night in the area we taught a Micronesian family of 13 people, which was fun. Everyone except the great-great grandma speaks English, thankfully. 

 

Since then, we have been doing the Good Lord's work, calling random numbers, teaching members about the restoration proclamation, teaching people over the phone, pretty regular stuff, honestly, there is just a different area code on the numbers we call. And the names are easier to pronounce. 

 

President will be leaving us in 8 days, which is sad. We have one final zone conference with him on Tuesday, presumably because they want to say how much they love all of us. 

 

We got to go to church for the second time today. It was a sparse crowd, but it was good to at least have a crowd, and see people. 

 

Well, nothing especial to report. Everyone be safe in this corona pandemic which really ought to just give up and go away already. 

 

Love,

Elder DeFord