WEEK 32 - Interracial Marriage

When I first got to Texas I remember meeting this one missionary named Elder Guzman. When I first met Elder Guzman I didn’t think he was real. He was perfectly obedient, insanely hard working, and he always had a smile on his face through the fun and the not fun parts of missionary work. In my mind I was like “nerd” and kinda just disregarded the example he was setting. The fun things to do as a missionary was stuff like cool lessons with people or baptisms, and I very much enjoyed doing the fun stuff and it was easy for me to keep a smile on my face and work hard with that stuff. But when I had to do things like language study I just wanted to evaporate, it put me in such a bad mood (ask Elder Campbell he can confirm). It was crazy to me that Elder Guzman enjoyed putting maximum effort into every single thing he did. I was blown away that he was doing all of these things that sounded literally so horrible to me and he was still the happiest missionary that I knew. After a while I found out that that is exactly the reason why Elder Guzman is the happiest missionary I knew. Elder Guzman understood that putting your full heart into being a missionary is how you enjoy it and feel joy throughout the fun and the not fun. I no longer think Elder Guzman is a nerd, but he is now one of my best friends in the mission. Not trying to sound like my Dad or anything, but that is actually how we find true joy in the things we do in life: by putting our whole heart into that. Whether it is missionary work, school, testimony, family, gambling, marriage, friends, work, sports, we need to put our whole heart into it (kidding about gambling). My invitation to you is to join me in following Elder Guzman’s example and putting our whole heart into important things, and then we can all see the joy that comes from it. I don’t want to get the die hard Elder Campbell fans excited, but there is a chance that this week I get transferred and me and him are back together (if they split the chinese area). That would be sooo neat I love that man, and I would love to go embark on the Lord’s errand again with him. I would also be down to stay in this area I am currently in because gosh darn as of this week we have so many good friends who are progressing. So we will see, but I will go where I am needed. Let me tell ya about my week: - So this week one of the missionaries in our apartment Elder Waters was feeling super sick and couldn’t go out. I felt mid as well so we decided that me and him would stay and my companion Elder Brown and his companion Elder Barker would go and do all of our lessons for that day. Me and Elder Waters were gonna just call people and do online work all day but they took both of the SIM cards and keys so we had like no option of doing anything. We did a decent amount of productive stuff like reading the scriptures and he practiced spanish and I practiced chinese but then we decided to call it quits and we played a concerning amount of blackjack. Later that night he was feeling slightly better so we decided to depart and walk to a gas station that was decently far away. We got there and we met this cool guy from Ukraine and I told him that my brother was a missionary in Ukraine and he was not very impressed, but he gave us free donuts so that was very kind. Then we were walking back feeling quite unwell and I kicked something while I wasn’t looking and I was like “hm what was that” so I look down and it is this large snake just looking like it is ready to attack me. I ignored all feelings of illness and ran faster than Usain Bolt from this serpent. We then went to dutch bros because Elder Waters wanted chocolate milk and it was on the way back. We got there and starting placing our order and the employee looked at me and was like “do you like country music?” and I was like “no” and then she talked about country music for what felt like an eon, and then she was like “oop your chocolate milk is ready!” Then we took a sip and it was just straight coffee, so we gave it back and she was like “Sorry about that. Anyways what I was saying about Morgan Wallen…” I had such a big headache by this point that literally none of this registered in my mind, but it’s ok she was a very nice person. We finally went back to our apartment and called it a night. We laughed and we cried and it was a fun adventure overall. - We had a super cool night this week where we met our new friend named AJ. He is so cool and is super interested in learning more about our beliefs. One defining characteristic of AJ’s personality is his questions. I love a good question but sometimes he really throws me some curveballs. He will say something normal like “oh so the Book Of Mormon also testifies about Jesus Christ?” and then other times he is like “so are we like super against interracial couples? Or what is the deal here?” I love AJ he is such a wholesome soul, he sadly didn’t make it to church today but next time he will come and I will prove to him that we love interracial couples. By the way I would like to say something to all of you people who were angry with me when I got branded: it has been super clutch for missionary work. Not once but twice someone has said “am I allowed to come in if I have tattoos?” and I proudly inform them that I have a brand and then they are like “hm this is like a normal person” This is what happened with AJ’s wife and it made her feel way more comfortable. I am not saying you should get a brand if you're going on a mission, but it is quite the asset for helping others feel comfortable. After AJ we went over to his neighbor Amanda’s apartment and gave her a lesson. She is also a super nice lady who wants to learn more about the gospel. She does not have the questions that AJ has, but she does have a child who is a menace. He is like 4 and I don’t think it likes it when we come over. Last time we came he was just trying to pull his Mom inside the whole time. But this time he decided to try a new tactic. We were teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ and I was knee deep in explaining the gift of Repentance and this child decided to start urinating right on the porch. Not even this attempt to diminish the Spirit worked, because he was banished inside by his Mom and we still finished the lesson on a urinated door step. The work of the Lord must go on and I love being able to spread this message of Jesus Christ to anyone who will listen. - I think and pray for you guys often and I love you all so much. Being here makes me realize how amazing I had it back home. I see incredibly hard things every single day and it just makes me so grateful for what I have. I miss all of you a lot and I would love to hear from you if you have time! Keep being great I will see you soon (this mission thing is fast). - I went to Buffalo Wild Wings with Elder Campbell again if you want to see the pics join this: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qwGY1QhS99ne5wGy8