Weekly Update - 9 Nov 2009‏

Dear Family:

I hope everyone had a good week and that "no news is good news." I'm glad BYU was able to get back onto the winning road and beat Wyoming convincingly. TCU looks very impressive this year! All the way up to #4 in the country now, nice. The top three teams in the country are clear: 1. Florida, 2. Texas, 3. Alabama. The rest of the teams are just trying to get themselves onto the level of these three teams. Somebody needs to do something about Boise State and Cincinnati being in the top 6. They put up big numbers and look pretty solid playing against the "cellar dwellers" of Division 1 football (i.e. San Jose State, Louisiana Tech, Syracuse).

We had a baptism on Saturday (7 Nov) with Jason (age 18). He comes from a Jewish family that wasn't entirely supportive of his decision to be baptized, but they weren't too critical either. They seemed indifferent about the whole thing. Jason reminds me a lot of Napolean Dynamite. His mannerisms, trademark phrases, and tone of voice cause me to picture him parading around town with good ol" Kip Dynamite. We had a movie presentation at the mission home on Friday night and he showed up wearing a "zute suit" and a pair of striped, metallic palomino (light brown) dress shoes. I struggled not to grin and laugh.

Two other missionaries, Jason and I were having a conversation about this look that he was showcasing and he told us about where he bought his suit, shoes, socks, and everything else to complement the look he was going for. Shortly after finishing that conversation, Elder Welling showed-up after finishing a phone call and asked Jason, "Where did you get your suit?" Jason replied, "The same place I bought the shoes..." Classic response. He's Napoleon Dynamite - Part II.

It was nice to spend the whole week in my area with Elder Welling and not have to go on splits with Zone Leaders or other companionships in the mission. We knocked doors for a while this week and had some comical experiences while on the streets.

On Saturday, we were knocking doors in a heavily populated Jewish area and we were waiting for someone to answer the door at one house. She answered after 10-15 seconds and told us "right off the bat" that she was a different religion. She continued repeating the phrase, "different religion, different religion." Elder Welling was trying to recover control of the situation and simply asked, "You believe in Christ, right?" She responded, "Nope!" After she shut the door Elder Welling looked up at the top right hand corner of the door and saw that there was a masusa attached to the door frame. A masusa is a symbolic wooden fixture that Jewish people put on their doors to "keep them safe." Elder Welling felt pretty embarassed after seeing it up there. Good times.

That same afternoon we ran into two guys at separate times who claimed we were a cult and had all sorts of wild assumptions about what we believed. Most of what they thought we believed was false, so we corrected them, and tried to teach, but they didn't give us too much of an opportunity. They were both logical thinkers who were more concerned about the uncertainties of religion instead of the known doctrine.

Yesterday at church, Jason brought two of his good friends (Morgan and Chris). Chris came to his baptism on Saturday as well, so Jason is starting to catch the fire with doing missionary work. We have an appointment with Morgan and Chris tonight that we set up after church. They both said they had a good time and wanted to explore this faith. They've both been exposed to the Church through Jason's example and learning, and also to another mutual friend who's the Bishop's son. We'll see what happens.

I'm grateful for the chance to work in the single's ward up here instead of being limited to just the Westwood area. Over the past 2.5 months we've had four baptisms in the single's ward and one in the Westwood 2nd Ward (people who live in the Westwood area). The Westwood area is filled with Jewish people, wealthy people, atheists, logical enthusiasts, and a bunch of people who are happy with their lives and see no need to change.

Since we work in the single's ward we are able to work with anyone between the ages of 18-30 who is single and lives within the L.A. Stake boundaries. It's interesting to see how much more willing single people are when it comes to branching out and telling their friends about the gospel. They do a much better job with getting their friends in situations to meet church members and get acclimated with the church itself than most of the family wards do. Granted, the family wards are made up of families, so their hands are tied most of the time. We often run into the problem of being asked by ward leaders to attend events where non-members will be present, but when we are also there, the members don't introduce their friends to the missionaries. They wait for the Elders or the Sisters to do the "dirty work."

We have transfers this Wednesday (11 Nov) and Elder Gentry will be heading down to South Central to work in his new area for his final transfer. It will be strange to not be working around him anymore after spending five of the past six transfers as either his companion or "AP companion." Elder Hopoate is still getting used to the new surroundings and responsibilities, but he's coming along pretty well. I have a feeling I'll be shouldering a lot of the load this Wednesday with organization, getting people in the right places at the right times, and trying to stabilize the chaos. It should be a fun time.

Have a great week and thank you for all the prayers and support. The Church is true!

Elder Gold