Pre-Slammed Door

October 29, 2018 

"Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. 

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you" - Matthew 5:43-44

What a ride this last week was. It was a roller coaster for sure! Elder Pugmire went into surgery on Wednesday to get his tonsils removed. He's been recovering at some senior couples' homes until he comes back with Elder Judi and I. In the meantime my new little "greenie" and I have been on the grind! We re-opened this area last month, so I've been trying to build-up a teaching pool again. We have been knocking on a lot of doors, which is a good experience for my new missionary. It helps get the "greenness" out of them per say. But Elder Judi is a stud, simple and meek in his teaching, and willing to learn and do the work. He's from Coalville Utah, a small community by Provo. He likes comic books and writing. There is one tender moment we had together that really made me like him.

When a new missionary arrives to the ATM (Arizona Tucson Mission) they go through a lot of training and orientation to become a missionary and we throw a lot of stuff at them (not literally).  One thing is that they let you pick out a pillow and comforter that you will use for your bedding for the next two years. Now this is the moment that is so special. There are a lot of different colors of comforters to choose from; red, brown, black, blue, pink, and purple. Of course the pink ones are for the Sister Missionaries coming in, but there were only a few left. You know what he does? He takes a pink one haha! That's when I knew we would get along. Hilarious. (maybe not to you but definitely for me)

A day of adversity for us was this last Saturday while tracting. We have been knocking on a lot of doors, talking to nearly everyone we see, you know "planting a lot of seeds" but no one was interested in learning more. After about 4 hours of knocking on doors one interesting moment happened after we finished at the doorstep of one home and as we made our way to another. We were about to cross the street to introduce ourselves to the people outside who were across the road, as we got to the pavement on the other side of the road we heard a loud "bang"! Not putting much thought into it we went up to the door and knocked. A few seconds roll by and the door was promptly opened in order for the owner to have just enough leverage on it to give the door an impressive "thud"! No formalities. No words as in, "Go away! " or "We aren't interested!", just the sound of the wood hitting the framework echoing in our ears. All of a sudden I realize... that noise from before we knocked on the door was them slamming the door! It was a "pre-slammed door!" Hahaha... I've just learned to laugh at instances like that. Everyone warns you before you go on a mission that people will throw doors in your face, but when it actually comes to pass I just think to myself, "Wow! They were right! How neat is that?" 

Last week was my birthday. It's strange to think that I am now 21. If I want to legally become an alcoholic now I can! 

Thanks everyone for all of your support, letters, and prayers.

  

Love, Elder West

My sisters and I are now 21 years old!  Crazy! Miss you!

Drawing I made...(its an inside joke).

I'm a Grandpa...kinda

October 15, 2018 

"But I have commanded you to bring up your children in light and truth."

-Doctrine and Covenants 93:40

Elder Pugmire and I received a call from President Browning last Saturday... We will be training a new missionary as a trio! It'll be interesting, Elder Pug got his visa to go to Mexico for his mission in Torreon. He will be staying here for a little longer but exactly how long we don't know. So technically I'm a grandpa, because my "son" I've been training, Elder Pugmire, will be training with me. We are both super excited! Our new missionary will be the most loved kid in this mission, haha.

Our work has been going well. We had a super cool experience the other day. It was raining real hard, and we are on bikes this week, so we got drenched. We went to the family history center (which is about a 15 minute bike ride) to fill out some paper work for Elder Pugs he needed for his return to Mexico. After we arrive, we sit down, and then realize that Elder P forgot some information he needed at our apartment. As we were leaving to head back to our apartment this older woman and her friend asked us if they could take our seats because they wanted to be next to each other. She was very nice, she is a member in a different ward. We talked with her for a little but then went on our way. Before heading back to our apartment we decided to wait-out the rain in the parking lot and make some calls to our Ward, set up lessons etc. After making some calls and trying to build on our work for the coming week, we decided to ride our bikes to In-n-Out burger; we didn't have a dinner scheduled that night, (they canceled on us). The rain didn't stop, but we're hungry and we needed to get going anyway, so we ride our bikes, arrive dripping wet and go inside and little be known... the same lady and her friend we met earlier were sitting inside having dinner! They paid for our dinner (members are always so nice) and we ate together. As we talked with them we found out that they are both converts to the church. One of the ladies has a son who less active, that married a non-member and his kids are not baptized. We had a great conversation, got to know them better and found out her son is actually in our Ward boundaries! So we will be visiting them next week, hoping to put on a "good look" for the church and build a relationship with them. Such a cool experience that wouldn't have happened without rain and a couple mishaps. 😇

I'll send some pictures of the past week, including our drenched faces from the rain. Love everyone! 

Elder West