Week 96 Keeping It Real and Trying to Work Hard

Hey everyone, another week here in Everson, and things are going okay. It's kind of hard being here now. Something has changed. Elder Duesenberry is really trunky now, so he just doesn't care that much for some of the work anymore, and what makes it harder is Elder Haselton is just following him because he kind of adapts to what his comps do. When it comes to me, I don't care how comps act or what they do, as long as we are working hard, finding people to teach, and are striving to be obedient. Since halfway through last week and this week, my comps have not been doing those things. It's really hard when I feel like I care more about the area then the other two, and I want to end my mission well, meaning working hard. I've told my leaders about this, and I pray every day for it. I just ask for all of those at home, please pray that things will change and that their hearts will soften more, because Elder Duesenberry has made it pretty clear to me that he does not want to change. We still get along and have a great time as a companionship, but I feel like we aren't as unified because of the attitude we all have for the work. Elder Duesenberry is going home soon, and he started his mission here, so he already has good relationships with people, so he sees no need to build new ones because he leaves in less than 3 weeks. I understand his point, but still that's not right. I just hope things change because it's not helping me. If it keeps going it will make me more trunky then I already am, and I can't give up on my Heavenly Father, not when I've already come this far. I guess you can say I'm back in the same state I was with Elder Addington. Both he and Elder Duesenberry are great people, and were/are great missionaries, but they just gave up so quickly. I hope that doesn't happen to me. Anyway, sorry about my complaining. It's just been a hard few couple of days when it comes to the work, but I'm still having fun out here. Anyways here are the highlights of the week.

Monday
We emailed and went shopping. We spent some time in the mall, but l never get anything when I go because I always waste too much money I don't have.  Later, we went back to our area to go on a hike with some of the zone. There is a mountain in our area that people came and shot gold into it and dug it out, took pictures, and then told people to come invest in their "gold mine". Once people payed them, they took the money and ran for it. However, all the caves and mines are still there. So, we went and hiked up to it, but didn't get to the cave because we got to a point, did a challenge of all of us running up this steep hill and then sliding down it. No one wanted to keep going, so we all just went back to the car. All we found was some old rusted mine carts at a small tunnel that was sealed off. That kind of made me sad that we stopped because we still had a lot of time left for P-day. We were almost to the cave, but the sisters got too tired, and one of the zone leaders wanted to go back... So, since my comps wanted to follow the crowd, we went back too. Idk, maybe we'll go again another day. Later that night, we had a lesson with Alyvia on tithing and fast offerings.

Elder Duesenberry, Elder Hammond, Elder Haselton

Hiking on P-Day

Tuesday

We didn't have much happen. We did a lot of visiting people and had a couple lessons. But nothing big. We had a lesson with the Larranaga family. We just reviewed the 10 Commandments with them.

Wednesday
We had district meeting, and Elder Winget did not instruct this week. Instead we had a discussion on how to help the members in our wards and about the hard times on our missions. It was really good, and I haven't had a distinct meeting like that in a while. President is kind of doing away with that. That's another thing I'm mad about for another time to complain about. Later that day, we did some service for Char, a member in the ward. That was hard because I was filling dirt into a wheelbarrow, and I miss stepped and made my knee pop out and back in again. I had to use my brace and my cane for the rest of the week because my knee was swollen and sore. I wish I could replace it. It's gone out on me so many times on my mission. We had a lesson with the Mullers, the family we helped move in last week. We just got to know them more. We did more service later, but I just sat on a bucket while my comps did the work.

Thursday
We went and helped at the food bank. We also had a visit with Nate, our blind investigator. We just got to know him more. He's a funny guy. We also had a lesson with the gardeners. We taught them why it's important to do service.

Friday
Nothing really happened. We just did weekly planning and tried to make visits.

Saturday
We did a lot of visits. It was kind of a slow day

Sunday
I gave a talk on how to get the best things from stake conference. It went well. I shared like 5 scriptures, and I was the last speaker, so I had plenty of time. We also went out to Sumas and saw some people later in the day. So that was all fun.

Well that's the week. I hope everyone has had a good one, and I'll see you soon. 

Elder Hammond