We arrived in the 120-degree zone this week, reaching 121 degrees in San Luis on Monday. You could say I am coping ... better, but "better" does not mean "well." I get exhausted from the sun and just try to keep going through every day.
And I'm not the only one. An important statistic that we keep in the mission is the OYM (Open Your Mouth) number. Elder Ballard left a challenge to the mission a few years ago that we talk to 10 more people a day, outside of tracting and other proselying. This number became the OYM and has turned into a 70/week rather than 10/day stat. Nobody keeps track of homes tracted into, just the OYM. Many missionaries forego tracting, to achieve their 70 OYMs a week, something I do not feel was ever the intended purpose. Especially here in San Luis with the heat, it is virtually impossible to find people out and about in the street. As we have been told by many people here, every day is an official "heat warning" and we should go inside. We have a great deal more success tracting doors, with many invites to return, but this does not seem to matter to anybody because we don't reach the weekly 70 OYMs. Oh well, God knows our intents, and it is Him I seek to please.
Yuma is so separated from the rest of the mission, and San Luis is so separate from Yuma. At first that frightened me. Now, I can see the blessings of being away. Here, we can focus on being missionaries by teaching, working, and extending commitments, whereas in other places of the mission, it is easy to identify yourself as a missionary because you spend your time with the other missionaries, you go to all the missionary meetings, you go out to eat with the missionaries. The focus becomes more social than work.
I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned so far from being in San Luis, and grateful that we can work in the branch here to build God's kingdom. I believe that the vision of Joseph Smith has far to be fulfilled when he foretold that the church would fill the world. The work is still beginning, and it's destiny is powerful and unimagined. I want to do all I can to do my part, little as it is, to bring to pass the purposes of God.
"Missionaries are going forth to different nations; the Standard of Truth has been erected. No unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing. Persecusions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble and calumny may defame, but the Truth of God will go forth, boldly, nobly and independent, 'til it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear; 'til the purposes of God shall be accomplished, and the Great Jehovah will say, 'The work is done.'" -Joseph Smith, The Wentworth Letter
I know this is the work of God. I feel so small and so privileged to be here, doing His work. I am not worthy of this honor. But as Christ taught His Apostles, "Ye have not chosen me ... but I have chosen you ...." What powerful calling to be chosen of God, as we all are.
-Elder Sam Bostwick
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
another hot week
That's right. Another hot week. Very hot. Hotter than anybody should be willing to endure. Why do people even live here and tolerate this? It's awful and terrible.
In all honesty, I have been very tried by the heat. I hope that I soon find a way to handle it, rather than continue being miserable physically. But on the bright side, we have much more motivation to teach lessons, because then we get to go inside people's houses. It also provides for great conversation to strangers. "Why are you walking around? It's too hot." "Yes it is hot, but we are walking around the streets because we are missionaries ...." I think they mostly just think we're crazy. And they're right.
Elder Mitchell just keeps proving his worth as he continually helps me see things that I had not seen, or remind me of things I forgot, or just share his wise opinion. His help has been so invaluable in learning this new area in ways that nobody else could have helped me. I am grateful for my companion.
I am very short on time, but want you all to know that I still know the Church is true. Through patience and faith in our afflictions, we experience a lasting conversion to the gospel. Faith leads us to action, and righteous actions fuel our faith. I love the circle that the gospel is to give us continual growth. I hope you are all well. I am now out of time.
With love,
-Elder Sam Bostwick
In all honesty, I have been very tried by the heat. I hope that I soon find a way to handle it, rather than continue being miserable physically. But on the bright side, we have much more motivation to teach lessons, because then we get to go inside people's houses. It also provides for great conversation to strangers. "Why are you walking around? It's too hot." "Yes it is hot, but we are walking around the streets because we are missionaries ...." I think they mostly just think we're crazy. And they're right.
Elder Mitchell just keeps proving his worth as he continually helps me see things that I had not seen, or remind me of things I forgot, or just share his wise opinion. His help has been so invaluable in learning this new area in ways that nobody else could have helped me. I am grateful for my companion.
I am very short on time, but want you all to know that I still know the Church is true. Through patience and faith in our afflictions, we experience a lasting conversion to the gospel. Faith leads us to action, and righteous actions fuel our faith. I love the circle that the gospel is to give us continual growth. I hope you are all well. I am now out of time.
With love,
-Elder Sam Bostwick
Wednesday, June 11, 2008
limited on time
I don't have much time today—I don't normally get enough emails to read to have to spend time catching up on people's lives. But I prefer that, and am extremely appreciative of even the short notes. I think the way people write says a lot about them, and love that my family is one of classy writing and heartfelt sentiments. I miss you and hope you are well.
The excitement of where I am at caught up to me over the weekend. I drove as far south as I could on our street and just stared excitedly at "la frontera" or the border, which is represented by a large wall. The Mexico side of San Luis honestly looks more lively, and someday, I hope to visit. In fact, I am grateful that I will never have the issue of having to travel thousands of miles and spend large amounts of money to visit my mission, because that leaves the option open to spend all that money visiting other places I have not been to before. I hope my wife will be game ....
We meet lots of people everyday, and I think Elder Mitchell, who has been here for 5 months, may have talked to over 75 percent of the city already. I hope as people get to know us more, they will wonder what we teach. And then, of course, I hope they don't wonder too long, because at that moment, I have faith that God will open the door for them to gain their own testimony of the restored Gospel. How great and sweet that moment will be.
Be good, stand for the truth, and shine your light upon the hill. I love you, family and friends. I appreciate hearing from you, but know that silence doesn't mean we aren't friends. Take care!
-Elder Sam Bostwick
The excitement of where I am at caught up to me over the weekend. I drove as far south as I could on our street and just stared excitedly at "la frontera" or the border, which is represented by a large wall. The Mexico side of San Luis honestly looks more lively, and someday, I hope to visit. In fact, I am grateful that I will never have the issue of having to travel thousands of miles and spend large amounts of money to visit my mission, because that leaves the option open to spend all that money visiting other places I have not been to before. I hope my wife will be game ....
We meet lots of people everyday, and I think Elder Mitchell, who has been here for 5 months, may have talked to over 75 percent of the city already. I hope as people get to know us more, they will wonder what we teach. And then, of course, I hope they don't wonder too long, because at that moment, I have faith that God will open the door for them to gain their own testimony of the restored Gospel. How great and sweet that moment will be.
Be good, stand for the truth, and shine your light upon the hill. I love you, family and friends. I appreciate hearing from you, but know that silence doesn't mean we aren't friends. Take care!
-Elder Sam Bostwick
Thursday, June 5, 2008
exiled
I don't want to be the kind of person who tries to relive glory days of high school or college or anything, but if I were to be that kind of person, my glory days in the mission so far would be my time in Chandler. And yes, the glory days are over.
The past few days have been fun ones, with the whole world kind of pausing to wait for transfers. Being with four Spanish missionaries, we were able to make even better predictions than normal and we had mapped out and figured out all leadership advancements and all training calls how "we would do it." Monday before transfers always leads up until nighttime, when we receive the call from the President or our zone leaders. We went to lunch as a zone to Chili's, which worked out perfectly for me, as I got a free cake for my birthday. We taught some great lessons and then were at home promptly at 9:00 p.m. to await the phone's ringing. President Craig called to have Elder Guernsey and Elder Faulkner both train new missionaries. I was out. Booted. Ripped from the Glory. Tuesday became a day of packing—happy birthday to me—and saying goodbye to the few people I had met over just four weeks. We also helped a family that was baptized on Saturday pack their things to move to El Paso for the military. It was a nice day.
Transfers are always fun, but never moreso than yesterday. I know more missionaries with each transfer and it becomes an exciting chance to see them all. Transfers are announced alphabetically by zone, meaning Yuma Zone comes last. I was one of the last missionaries left without a companion, and in fact, when it was announced that I would be going to San Luis, in the Yuma Zone, I went to sit by myself because only the missionaries being transferred make the four-hour trip from Yuma to Tempe.
So I've come to San Luis, the exiled area. Yuma Zone is in the South West corner of Arizona, and Yuma itself is a fairly large city. San Luis is about 20 miles outside of Yuma, right on the border of Mexico. You can see the border if you stand on our roof. Everyone is Mexican, and my companion and I are the only white people I have seen so far. Spanish is definitely the language spoken here. In all senses of the matter, it's a pretty cool place to be, but the distance makes me feel somewhat exiled.
Thank you to those who wrote me. I did appreciate the emails and of course the package (Mom) and letters. I love you all and think I should have a birthday every week so I could get more mail. But I suppose then birthdays would also be mundane occurrences and not worthy of extra recognition if they came every week. I love you all and have a strong testimony that this church is led by a prophet who receives revelation. I know God works amongst His children today and that He wants us to return back to Him. It is an achievable goal, or it would never have been worth it.
With much love,
-Elder Sam Bostwick
The past few days have been fun ones, with the whole world kind of pausing to wait for transfers. Being with four Spanish missionaries, we were able to make even better predictions than normal and we had mapped out and figured out all leadership advancements and all training calls how "we would do it." Monday before transfers always leads up until nighttime, when we receive the call from the President or our zone leaders. We went to lunch as a zone to Chili's, which worked out perfectly for me, as I got a free cake for my birthday. We taught some great lessons and then were at home promptly at 9:00 p.m. to await the phone's ringing. President Craig called to have Elder Guernsey and Elder Faulkner both train new missionaries. I was out. Booted. Ripped from the Glory. Tuesday became a day of packing—happy birthday to me—and saying goodbye to the few people I had met over just four weeks. We also helped a family that was baptized on Saturday pack their things to move to El Paso for the military. It was a nice day.
Transfers are always fun, but never moreso than yesterday. I know more missionaries with each transfer and it becomes an exciting chance to see them all. Transfers are announced alphabetically by zone, meaning Yuma Zone comes last. I was one of the last missionaries left without a companion, and in fact, when it was announced that I would be going to San Luis, in the Yuma Zone, I went to sit by myself because only the missionaries being transferred make the four-hour trip from Yuma to Tempe.
So I've come to San Luis, the exiled area. Yuma Zone is in the South West corner of Arizona, and Yuma itself is a fairly large city. San Luis is about 20 miles outside of Yuma, right on the border of Mexico. You can see the border if you stand on our roof. Everyone is Mexican, and my companion and I are the only white people I have seen so far. Spanish is definitely the language spoken here. In all senses of the matter, it's a pretty cool place to be, but the distance makes me feel somewhat exiled.
Thank you to those who wrote me. I did appreciate the emails and of course the package (Mom) and letters. I love you all and think I should have a birthday every week so I could get more mail. But I suppose then birthdays would also be mundane occurrences and not worthy of extra recognition if they came every week. I love you all and have a strong testimony that this church is led by a prophet who receives revelation. I know God works amongst His children today and that He wants us to return back to Him. It is an achievable goal, or it would never have been worth it.
With much love,
-Elder Sam Bostwick
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)