Thursday, March 11, 2010 - CTR

Hi, y'all!

Another week has passed in the TLM.

First of all, just so you know, next week's P-day will be on Monday instead of Thursday. The zone leaders want to do a zone activity before interviews on Tuesday. Our new goal is 60 baptisms a month, and so our short-term goal is 45. They want to do something to better unify us so we can achieve it. So on Monday, we're all going to go to the Cadillac Ranch, followed by a FHE at a member's home. It sounds exciting. (It also means we'll have 10 days without a P-day.)

Also, my temple recommend was going to expire at the end of the month. I told President Robison, and so he pulled me aside and interviewed me right there. He took my old one and said he'll mail my new one to me. It occurred to me then that that was my very first one. It was also weird being without one for the first time since getting it. It felt very weird. In fact, I borrowed a "For the Strength of Youth" mini-pamphlet from one of the youth and stuck it in my wallet where the recommend would be. A couple days later, my new one came in the mail. Holding a current temple recommend means something more to me now.

One day, we passed a lady that was quickly walking along the street. When we tried to speak to her, she asked if we could calm her ex-husband down who was threatening to kill himself. We went to the address she gave us, and sure enough, there was a man sitting on his porch, with a garden hose tied into a noose that was slung over the porch. We tried talking to him. He was in a bad situation (just out of jail, no money, no documentation, no nothing). He was also too mad to talk to. We ended up leaving and calling the police. We're sure we did the right thing. I just hope things turn out alright for him.

In other news, we have been challenged by the zone leaders to read the Book of Mormon before General Conference (in three weeks). That's about 25 pages per day. I am not a fan of speed reading scriptures, but it has still been pretty interesting to do. I've learned quite a bit in the three days I've been doing it.

Speaking of news, we were out on our bikes the other day, and a gentleman stopped his truck to talk to us. He said he was a columnist for the local paper and wanted to do a little article on us in a couple weeks. That should be pretty cool to do.

Great things happen everyday. I'm learning everyday, and experiencing things only a mission could afford. I'm glad I can be a missionary.

I know the Church is true.

Love,
-Elder Brandon Wong