“The ninjas are deadly and silent
They're also unspeakably violent
They speak Japanese
They do whatever they please
And if you tear off their mask
They'll be smiling”
Yo this week was a little rough. The work was pretty slow. People seemed like they wanted to hear from us even less than usual! Amusing, very amusing. But not really. I don’t know what I’m on about.
We visited Cheryl again this week. Last week after we talked to her she experienced really severe kidney failure and almost died. We visited her in the hospital and gave her a blessing and chatted about some uplifting things. She’s such a strong woman. I’m excited to keep meeting with her.
We also met this dude named John. He lived in a super small wooden cottage. The majority of the space was taken up by a bunch of massive surfboards. We just got to know him a little bit. He’s an older gentleman and he has many a story to tell. He told us about where the best spots are to surf and how we can get there for free. But there’s more to the story. My companion went back to visit him while we were on exchanges and he hadn’t the faintest idea who he was. Additionally the first two times we called him he asked us if we were Jesus, and upon finding we were not, abruptly hung up. We deduced that he most likely has some kind of dementia. A sad revelation indeed.
We met Martha’s brother Raymond. He was visiting her and his knee was super messed up. He looked like he was experiencing some pretty serious pain. We asked him what happened and he said that a ghost threw him out of his bed onto his knee. Sus. We gave him a blessing to heal his knee and we cast out anything that was haunting him or whateva. We have yet to hear a report on how he’s doing.
Friday was certainly my favorite day this week. We had exchanges with the Salinas Elders. I went to Salinas with Elder Bullock. Now, I don’t know if I’ve talked about Elder Bullock yet but we’re pretty tight. So you can imagine my excitement when I got to go on exchanges with him in his area. It was fantastic. Major bro time moment. We were only able to teach one lesson but we had a good time mobbing around. While taking a stroll through Chinatown, we met this homeless fella named Ron who invited us to his ‘room’ which we were hesitant about but we followed him. As we were following we noticed a very large kitchen knife in his back pocket. Not particularly reassuring. His crib ended up being an old electrical maintenance room with a meat smoker and a bunch of cooked hot dogs on the ground. He told us the story about a kid who beat him with a red hot shovel. Then he ran off to yell at some guy in a wheelchair. Elder Bullock has some serious street cred for speaking Russian. Though it brings me great sorrow to know that he will shortly be leaving his re-assignment here in Cali, and heading out to Russian to finish his mission. Perhaps I will learn Russian to honor him.
We also went to the Oakland Temple this week. It was super sick. Beautiful and of course very serene and peaceful. Pictures will be included.
Primary program in church. Always love hearing the youngsters sing.
Sometimes the work is rough as are our lives here in mortality. But fortunately we have control over what our experience is like. For better or worse. In the latest conference Elder Uchtdorf spoke wisely saying, “Do you want to change the shape of your life? Change the shape of your day. Do you want to change your day? Change this hour. Change what you think, feel, and do at this very moment. A small rudder can steer a large ship. Small bricks can become magnificent mansions. Small seeds can become towering sequoias.”
Making big changes is rarely effective in our efforts to fill our lives with more joy, peace, and contentment. It’s the small changes, the small actions that will lead to big changes. Smile. Pay someone a compliment. Tell someone how much you love them. Pray. Read a verse or two. I assure you that you will begin to marvel at how big of an impact the small things make. As we strive to just live a little more like Christ every day, our efforts will be multiplied beyond comprehension. Our joy can be filled a drop at a time.
Choose to stay positive. Choose to be better. Choose to be like Christ.
Here are some songs for this week.
Big Sur--Jack Johnson
Gallipoli--Beirut
Amsterdam--Gregory Alan Isakov
Relatively Easy--Jason Isbell
I and Love and You-- The Avett Brothers
Olivia--The Backseat Lovers
Love is a Beautiful Thing--Theo Katzman(Heartbreak Hits)
Birds of a Feather--Vulfpeck
I have an additional request. We met this week named Xavier who gave us a track to listen to on Youtube. We can’t listen to it because of the media policy but please give my homie a listen. Also I’m unsure of the content so beware. The first picture I’ll include is the name of his Youtube channel off the back of his last CD.
Much love to you all.
Elder Winegar
Dearest Friends and Family,
Hey :)
I miss you all very very much. I'm having a little bit of a homesickness relapse but it's still got nothing on the first week. I just miss hanging with you folks. But no time to reminisce lemme get to the content my loyal fans want to hear.
We met this homeless guy named Angel who had no idea what was going on and really wanted us to buy him some Clam Chowder. We got him some garlic bread and he gave us his phone number. We tried calling him and every time he would answer the phone he would be like "GJWFEHCIPWJDOIHWOEJC" and then we'd be like "whoa whoa whoa it's the missionaries" and then he'd be like "Hello." It was quite amusing.
We got taken by some filthy rich couple to Clint Eastwood's restaurant, Mission Ranch, where we were treated to Filet Mignon and Chocolate Mousse. The husband then proceeded to pay in cash out of an envelope with 4 thousand dollars in it. So that was super super dope.
We also had a virtual temple tour with our Korean friend and the sister missionaries doing the tour were cracking me and Elder Andersen up. Let's just say they had some pretty apparent companionship issues…
A new person that moved into the ward did magic tricks for us and played us a Ukulele song that tied perfectly into our lesson with the other people we were having dinner with. It was sick. He's an actual wizard, there's no other explanation.
And finally we got transfer calls...I will be staying in Monterey with Elder Andersen who is now the District Leader making me the "district fairy." Not quite sure why that's my new title but whatever I'm chilling.
We talked to this guy named Lynn E. (kinda like Lenny but not quite?) who lives out of his car. He's a really funny and fascinating gentleman but he seemed a little overcome by the cynicism of our society and just had a really pessimistic view on life and the state of the world. We tried our best to lift his spirits to moderate success but I left feeling a little down. I just kept wondering what more I could've said. Was he right? Did I really have any reason to think what I was doing was making a difference?
Later that night Elder Andersen shared with a completely different set of individuals a scripture that entered into my heart with great potency.
Ether 12:4
Wherefore, whoso believeth in God might with asurety hope for a better world, yea, even a place at the right hand of God, which hope cometh of faith, maketh an anchor to the souls of men, which would make them sure and steadfast, always abounding in good works, being led to glorify God.
My mind was put at ease. Despite the ever growing chaos that seems to be inducing widespread hopelessness I did have reason to hope, not only for personal peace, but for a better world. And the reason I'm able to have this hope is because of my faith in Jesus Christ. Because of him I can hope for a better world. And that's really what my purpose is here. To "abound in good works" if you will. To help bring to pass this better world by loving and serving individuals just like Christ did. Most often one by one.
And it's not just limited to missionaries either ;)
I would encourage you all to continually turn outwards. Serve and Love those around you. As you do so you will find your own character changing as well.
Now here's your songs you zealots:
Sell Out--Real Big Fish
Latter Days--Big Red Machine
Major Tom--Peter Schilling
Stand by Me--Ben E. King
More--Electric Guest
Little Dark Age--MGMT
Diane Young--Vampire Weekend
Ladies and Gentlemen--Blue Rainboots
See you In a few
Elder Winegar
P.S.
I hate technology so my mama is probably gonna send the email this week. So probably email me directly if you're planning on responding. Unless you want her to see. Then do whatever you want I guess.
