The Best Week Ever

Ní haò mā? 


      Okay you caught me again. I might be exaggerating a little bit in my title. This week, I learned some very valuable lessons, some old and some new. I'm no stranger to hard days, weeks, months, or even years, but it's always the same. We can never fully appreciate something good without experiencing something bad first. And bad things prepare us to experience some of the most precious and beautiful things yet, but some of us give up before we see that. Well ladies and gentlemen the lord did just that. He blessed elder greene and I with a great week. We found 9 new people in only 2 days. This is the most people I've found in one week in my entire mission. Being in the buckle of the Bible belt has its finding struggles.  Just to refresh what finding someone means: we meet someone, teach them a principle and leave them with something to think about, then schedule up another time to meet. I also refreshed my memory and gained a stronger testimony of the pain of regret, vs the pain of discipline. I could've complained and whined and threw in the towel and said "life's not fair!" But I wouldn't grow and I would soon come to regret it. Choosing to stay focused and stay diligent proves to be difficult, and is definitely the harder option, but the one where you separate the "wheets and tears" and grow and learn. Your mind is a very powerful tool, or the most dangerous weapon. If you chose to not belive in yourself and give up when things get hard, you will never progress in life and fall into the pit of depression. If you learn from trials and mistakes and encourage and push yourself to do and become better, you will grow. It's a pretty simple philosophy but one we need to be reminded of often. Don't forget to see the progress you made, and give thanks to yourself and God. Don't worry so much about where you are, or where you could be. Think about how far you've come!


       Anyways I don't mean to get all master oogway and inspirational, but I can go on for days about how to change your thought process and gain a growth mindset and gain inner peace, but thats not important at this moment. Elder Greene and I were having a conversation the other day that the mission just feels like one very long day. It all kind of merges together, especially here in Alpine. I like to think of myself as a creative person, so doing the same thing all the time drives me crazy and it's been a struggle on the mission due to a tight and strict schedule. We came up with some new and refreshing ways to go about doing missionary work and it's been working phenomenally. Elder Greene and I literally are the same person and it's been so helpful to be companions with him here in Alpine. I've never been someone that was good with 1 on 1 and communicating and all that "fun" stuff, but I swear he can read my mind and that helps a lot too because we're always on the same page and I don't have to say what I'm thinking all the time. But I'm still working on that hahaha. We have been getting better at balancing fun and work, and man do we do both. It's been really good and I'm incredibly happy. Also we have been slowly putting the apartment together and it's looking pretty cool. I spent hours vacuuming, mopping, wiping countertops, cleaning bathrooms, organizing, and doing stereotypical husband material duties the other day (yesterday lol), and I've never seen an elders apartment so clean in my life. I hate things being messy or dirty and this apartment started off pretty wild but it's come a long way. 


      Normally I would write about people individually and share some cool stuff about them but thats not happening with 9 people, unless you want a magazine to read. But to wrap it up in a nice bow, they are all incredible people and pretty promising. We found some through doing service, and some through mutual friends and members. We have some things lined up for next week as well, so we have the possibility of finding even more people! I can finally sleep at night instead of worrying, thinking, or praying like a madman for hours. Things are shaping up. Now I understand there's going to still be hard days and hard weeks, but at least we saw some good come out of it. I've also been pushing myself harder in my conversion and just about everything I do. I'm trying to handle and take things more seriously but still leave room for the fun. I'm worried that I won't be taken seriously because of how "often" I goof off and I definitely don't want that to be the case. Sometimes it feels like it's an expectation for me to goof off but I hope my emails are proof enough that I can be serious too. I love nothing more than making others happy and seeing people smile and laugh but I also gotta take care of myself and my relationship with Jesus Christ! I don't know why I felt like I needed to write that, but I guess I'll fill you in on what else I'm working on lol.


      Anyways guys I'm gonna end this one here. I hope this email finds you well. Some don't send because I'm running low on storage. Thanks for the support and for taking the time out of your day to read this, even with how long it is. Xìe, Xìe! 


- elder Jenks 


201 state HWY 118 Alpine, TX. 79830 



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