Week 67 - Stolen Wallet, Sad Week, Second Thanksgiving

  While we were driving to Michigan for Thanksgiving last Wednesday, my cell phone rang. I saw that it was a Fresno area code and I prepared myself to hear from someone at the mission office or a member in Elder Schaff's area. I was surprised that when I said hello, Hayden said "Hi, Mom." Although it was great to hear his voice, I knew that something was wrong, or he would not have called. He told me that he was given permission to call home because the car that he and his companion were driving was broken into the night before and his wallet and Garmin GPS had been stolen out of it. Plus a memory stick with all of his Christmas music! The car was parked at a gated apartment complex, but broken into while they were at a teaching appointment. He needed help to get some documents together to file for a new bank card and driver license. There really is no excuse for leaving his wallet in the car, but he knew that, so we are trying to be positive and assist him in replacing the stolen items. He is gaining experience and learning some life lessons along the way. So that was Wednesday. Thursday was Thanksgiving and I am very grateful to the families that hosted he and his companion for lunch and turkey dinner. He enjoyed that, but by the time he wrote his weekly email on Saturday, he was feeling depressed and down about the week overall. He is also missing serving in a Spanish area and wanting to be teaching more. So, kind of a difficult week overall. This is in response to me asking if he was successful in canceling his debit card. Then his main email.

  "Yes, it was cancelled. They (the thieves) attempted to buy Taco Bell, but failed until they discovered I had a little bit left on a gift card there, which put them in the price range to not have to use a PIN with my debit card. Then they bought a Coke. So, $11 came off it. I already had it cancelled and the bank did something for a fraud claim for the $11. One of the senior missionary couples called about the driver's license, and we can get it with no fees if we can get some items together. We have what we need here, except for one document. You would need to send me that. Also, my medical insurance card was in the wallet. Is that going to be a problem to replace?"


  "I'm alright. Things have been bland. Not much is going on in the area and combined with losing my stuff, well, it was just a sad experience. I am surrounded by these missionaries like the Assistants and other leaders that expect to be doing miracles every other week and teaching the nations and nothin' is happening in our area. It's hard and I feel like I'm not making any ground in my work. Everyone around me talks about how things will get better, but conditions don't improve and there aren't people to teach. Then I wonder if my faith is lacking and try to trust more in God, but still nothing happens. I keep feeling haunted by a sense of needing to accomplish more, but getting nothing out on the table. I don't know how to fix it. It's a struggle that spurred in my mind when my stuff was stolen I guess. I've been really bitter about things since my stuff was stolen, and Elder N has been helping me out.

  Thanksgiving day was good though. We had a lunch and a dinner, so we didn't stuff ourselves like some of the other companionships did. Our lunch was with the B... family, and we played a few games of "speed Rumikub" with them while we were there. It broke my deprivation of board games for the streak of 1.25 years. I needed that after a hard week. Thanksgiving morning we also played a Turkey Bowl and all the Fresno Zones got together. It was the grudge match of Israel versus Zion, and it got intense. My team lost all of it's games though, despite some good plays. Nobody seemed to remember to bring water to that, and it was particularly hot that morning with no cloud cover, so everyone was burned out. We took a water break and then played a game of Ultimate Frisbee before going home. It felt good to run. I haven't been able to run hard in a while, since Elder N has terrible shin splints and hates to run.

  Anyway, I know my writing has been drab and sad, but I've put it together that I just need to give my heart and soul to these last months if I want to be satisfied with my work. If I do everything I can in Mountain View area and rich people continually slam doors in our faces, so be it. I know I just need to choose the right mind set. Even in my Book of Mormon reading I came across my predicament in the story of Ammon and Aaron amongst the Lamanites. Ammon had the privilege of converting Lamoni while Aaron got rejected, reviled, and thrown in prison. Then Ammon established the church with Lamoni while Aaron suffered there. Later, Ammon freed them and Aaron did teach King Lamoni's Father, but Muloki and Ammah really got the short end of the stick because they got the same persecutions and weren't mentioned, though present in the teaching of Lamoni's Father.

  No matter how many times I am humbled, it seems I am always being taught more humility. Gosh, the natural man has to be so rebellious! So, that's where I'm at. I'm trying to make the days count, not count the days.

  At the Turkey Bowl I got updates on my converts:

M: Really struggling. Has only attended church 3 times since I've been gone.

L: Got sick and is in the hospital and thus not attending church. Members worry he's a bit crazy.

M: Doing well actually. Got a Temple recommend and found a family name and is ready to do baptisms for the dead.

K: Doing alright. Faith and testimony are increasing. His mom decided to stop investigating though.

  So I rejoiced for the last two, but it's hard to hear that the other two aren't doing so well. 

  Finally, we attended a funeral of a member that passed away in my companion's' old ward. He had made it to 84, and died a natural death, and so there were lots of jokes about some of his "famous one-liners" and other things he would do, and it was actually kind of funny and a good tribute to this man. Of all the things to pull you out of a dismal week, that was a bonus. He was also the world's finest individual missionary. He had ordered over his lifetime 10,000 Book of Mormons from the distribution center and successfully gave out 7,000 copies. His favorite place to proselyte was the local gym's Jacuzzi, where he was apparently found in pink swim trunks from the 50's. The conversation usually started with: "Do you like to read?" His last words were "I'm gonna fight, I still have more Book of Mormons to give, the Lord has more for me to do." Quite the man. His son also shared that one of his favorite insults was "You're not smart enough to pour pee out of a boot." The absurdity of that statement at a funeral got a good laugh.

  So that's what I've been doing. It wasn't the most spiritual week, which is perhaps why I had the above mentioned struggle, but that's okay, there's always hope for next week to come unto Christ. 

--Elder Schaff