Mormon battalion

On Wednesday, I got to the terminal, and about 20 Elders and Sisters were already there. All of us except for one were packed onto the same flight haha, so it was pretty neat. It seemed like most of them already knew at least someone in the group and that they had been talking to each other for a while, so I just hovered at the edge of the group like my classic self haha. Then, right before we started boarding, Elder Trythall from my MTC district met up with me. His flight to St. George was at around 1/1:30, but his flight from California got to Utah around 8, crazy haha. On the flight, me and one other Elder were on either side of someone else (also, the seats were different than what the itinerary said, but I still got a window seat haha), and luckily, the other Elder was talkative and had a good conversation with the guy. Then, we got California and drove to the mission office. We got lunch, and I met with the president (for some reason I was first and I don't think we followed the schedule too closely haha). We just talked about my interests, my family, all that getting to know you stuff. Then, we each went with another missionary (not our trainers, they weren't there yet) and did some contacting for an hour. Me and my Elder didn't actually teach anyone because everyone was either sick, gone, or not interested, but we did pass out some Jesus cards, and he taught me to talk with everyone and to not take no for an answer. Then, we hung out till our trainers got there and had dinner with everyone, and then we went to our apartments. On Thursday, we went back to the mission office for breakfast, new missionary orientation (funds, driving, health, etc.), lunch, and Transfer 1 Training (discussing the mission, our purpose/goals, etc.). That lasted most of the day, so we just walked around and met with a couple people until evening. Friday began my first actual missionary day, so we pulled out the bikes. Apparently, I'm one of aboug two Elders who are on full bike missions; everyone else has a car haha. A bike was provided for me, so no worries about that. My legs have been getting worked, but at least I don't have to worry about leg day anymore haha. After our morning studies, we biked to the church to do weekly planning. Later, we went to a couple meetings, and then we went to a trailer park. After the appointments we had there fell through, we just walked around and talked to people. We met a gangbanger haha. It was cool, we asked him if he wanted a Jesus card and then he proceeded to tell us why he doesn't believe in God and all that. We had about a 30 minute discussion (maybe more), and Elder Schumann-Curtis and I were able to testify that we know that He is real through a witness from the Holy Ghost (and he pulled out Moroni 4-5). He kept trying to tell us that that's just our opinion and that we still couldn't prove it, but there was a brief moment where we could see the Spirit testifying to him as well, even if he didn't admit it. And the cool thing was that I didn't fear for my life once, even after he told us about his gang life. It reminded me of Alma 17:10-12 when the Spirit gave the sons of Mosiah courage to testify to the Lamanites. On Saturday, we served a guy that Elder Schumann-Curtis had been teaching, and afterwards, he told us that he felt like the Lord had put us in his path and that he couldn't have done everything we did without our hekp. We then gave him the zoom link for church, and we were able to see his number on the zoom on Sunday, which was awesome. Later, we had dinner with a member family and another companionship, and it was a lot of fun. We also played Uno haha. They did Stack and Match too, but a couple other rules were: if you played 0, then everyone trades hands in the direction play was going; if you couldn't play, you had to draw until you got a card you could play; you could stack a +2 on a +4 and vice versa; and you only played till one person won. It was fun, but I still like ours haha. On Sunday, we biked to the church in our suits (I'm really missing the days when we had to pass by two other churches just to get to our ward building haha). We were asked to pass the sacrament, and that was easily one of the most stressful parts of my week so far haha. After church, we did some more street contacting, had a really good discussion with the husband of someone we were going to meet with (he really seemed prepared for the message of the restored gospel, so we're excited to meet with them again), and we slowly perished from dehydration (Fast Sunday + bikes + California) until we were able to have another dinner with a member family. I also learned something interesting in my studies on Sunday. Luke 8:22-25 talks about the story of the tempest and how the Twelve woke Jesus up to calm the storms while they were on a boat, and in verse 25, Jesus asked them where their faith is. It's interesting that the Apostles were afraid of this storm even though they were literally on the same boat as the Messiah. Of course, something bad could've happened, but He was with them and would've been able to help with any difficulties or injuries that came about because of the storm. Sometimes, we might have the faith like the Apsotles did. That is, we may have faith that God can deliver us and take away our trials, but we often need more faith that. Sometimes, we need the faith necessary to accept our trials and trust in God's plan for us and for Him to bless us with strength to persevere (like in Mosiah 24:14-15 with the people of Alma). Yes, we can have faith that we will be delivered from the storms in our lives, but we also need to have faith to accept God's will and trust that He is still with us in the boat and that He can prevent us from capsizing, even if the tempest continues to rage outside. Hopefully that makes sense haha, but that was some insight I had. Today, we woke up at 4:15 to go on a hike and watch the sunrise as a district. It was fun, but I'm tired haha. We chilled there at the top of the hike for a while, and then we had breakfast. We've also been driving around for 2-3 hours, so I haven't been able to write any emails in that time haha, and I got terribly carsick right before we got to the hike (luckily, I barely survived). Now, we're just hanging out at a church in Gilroy; the smell outside when we got here is excellent haha. Anyway, things are going good, I'm having a great time, and I'm being fed well haha. I miss you, and I hope you continue to have a good week. Love, Elder Enger

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