Border Walls And Basketball

Quiubole vatos!

Last P-day, we drove down to the mall at Calexico, which is right on the border. So I got to take some pics at the border wall which was awesome! On Thursday we drove to San Diego for Zone Conference! We saw a bunch of other missionaries from other zones there, learned some good stuff, and got some food! I'll send some pictures from that. We also drove by a park and saw a kid and his dad playing basketball, so we stopped and played them for a bit in our proselytizing clothes. Luckily it was a really cool day, only about 90 degrees and cloudy, so we didn't absolutely die haha. I'll send a highlight from that ;) We gave them a mini lesson after and I think the kid, Rudy, seems pretty interested! We are trying to get him to the youth activity (basketball) tonight!

This last week was another bit of a tough one, at one point we were 0/9 on scheduled lessons actually happening! It's demoralizing to prepare lessons for people only to have them cancel, not answer the door/phone, or just dodge us completely - nine times in a row! We've had to remind ourselves that our purpose is, literally stated, to "Invite others to Come unto Christ..."

Key word - "invite", not "force". So when people cancel on us or dodge us, we just have to keep going and keep pushing to find that person whose heart is ready to receive the gospel!

Here's a couple of verses from the Book of Mormon that are super applicable to missionary work. This is in Alma chapter 26. 

27 Now when our hearts were depressed, and we were about to ^aturn back, behold, the Lord ^bcomforted us, and said: Go amongst thy brethren, the Lamanites, and bear with ^cpatience thine ^dafflictions, and I will give unto you success.

28 And now behold, we have come, and been forth amongst them; and we have been patient in our sufferings, and we have suffered every privation; yea, we have traveled from house to house, relying upon the mercies of the world—not upon the mercies of the world alone but upon the mercies of God.

29 And we have entered into their houses and taught them, and we have taught them in their streets; yea, and we have taught them upon their hills; and we have also entered into their temples and their ^asynagogues and taught them; and we have been cast out, and mocked, and spit upon, and smote upon our cheeks; and we have been ^bstoned, and taken and bound with ^cstrong cords, and cast into prison; and through the power and wisdom of God we have been delivered again.

30 And we have suffered all manner of afflictions, and all this, that perhaps we might be the means of saving some soul; and we supposed that our ^ajoy would be full if perhaps we could be the means of saving some.

 

 

These verses are so true and so relatable to missionaries (except the parts about being smitten, stoned, bound with ropes, cast into prison. It happens in other countries but not so much to missionaries in the states). These verses, and this chapter as a whole, really add to my testimony of the Book of Mormon as a whole. How could a 14 year old farm boy so accurately describe what is it like to be a missionary, the highs and lows, in a time when missionary work was non-existent? 

 

 

I hope everyone is doing well! Let me know if there's anything exciting going on in the world, or in your lives! I don't hear too much out here haha!

Elder Pettit

Ps: I took a picture I took with an elder wearing the same tie as me! He's in my zone, his name is Elder Poulsen and he's a total stud, he's huge too, super strong. He would have been fun to play football with haha! We noticed we had the same tie so we had to wear it to zone conference.