So, there I was, driving 70 miles per hour in a car without a license plate, church tracking system, or my companion, outside of the mission. It made for an exciting way to start off preparation day. The senior missionaries actually just needed help picking up some new cars, so we all got in a van and went to the Chevrolet dealership (which is outside our mission) with them. There we picked up a bunch of cars that you could count the mileage on with one hand. Then we drove back companionless, which was pretty odd. It was kind of a fun adventure.
Also, this morning, my companion cooked us bacon. But if a Canadian cooks bacon, does it just become ham?
This week we had all the mission zone conferences, so for three days we had a ton of meetings every day. They fed the missionaries the same thing for all of them, so we had Cane's fried chicken and fries five times this week. It was pretty good.
I've also really enjoyed going to church. I think I only got to go once while I was waiting to be reassigned, so going to church in English for almost the first time in 18 months was really strange. Everyone was just so normal. But there are a ton of really cool members and both wards are really big! It'll take some time to get to know everybody. There is one family that knows the Harris family really well and another member that I've met that graduated from Weber High. Always lots of connections.
Our wards have a lot of different geography. One ward is pretty much entirely in a really big and fancy gated community where all the members live. The other ward has some apartment complexes, and some parts where you take little side roads and you feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. Lots of empty space and houses spread far apart.
Someone from the mission department did a video training where they showed us lots of statistics that were pretty mind-blowing. I think it shows how the pandemic and hard times open people up. They compared referrals from members received in the last quarters of 2019 and 2020, and they were almost exactly the same. Same thing for referrals found through missionary efforts. But referrals through social media and websites like Come Unto Christ's web-page were almost insignificant the year before, and last year probably quadrupled in size if not more. People were just reaching out with many many questions. It was pretty crazy to see. I think it goes to show that God is preparing many people for the gospel. We just have to find them.
I loved reading in the Doctrine and Covenants this week. It is so powerful. I especially like when it says, "The works, and the designs, and the purposes of God cannot be frustrated, neither can they come to naught," and then later when God tells Joseph Smith, "...thou art still chosen, and art again called to the work." God is so patient with us. He expects a lot, but he takes us where we are and even though we are certain to make mistakes, have lots to learn, and fall short, nothing can get in the way of the plans he has for us as long as we keep on trying.
'Til we meet,
Elder Harris
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