Now I really hate to
say this, but not a whole lot happened this week. I know many grandma type
people who love journals and memories would say, "Oh Jared, it
is your mission! Surely you have memories from this week!? After all it is only
two valuable years of your life!? You would be foolish not to have plenty of
memories even in this one week! You should have a novel written just about this
one week! FOOLISH YOUNG BOY! YOU SHOULD.... etc." You get the point. This
week we did things like teach, find people to teach by knocking doors and other
such ways, and this is actually pretty cool, we started riding bikes.
So our area is huge.
It's pretty crazy because the ward boundaries are about 9 cities. The one we
live in called Crown Point is the biggest with a population of like probably
25,000. And then there is Hebron that has like 3,000 people and Kouts that
probably has like 1,500 people and Lowell that has like 6,000 people. (I looked
at a population map one time hehe that's why I know this) but all these cities
are pretty far apart and we only have a limited amount of miles that we can
drive our mission vehicle each month. So there is one city that we still haven't
even touched and I've been here over 4 months now. It's pretty crazy! There's
still a whole lot of fun to have!
So the amount of miles
we have is definitely not enough and we've gone over every month except for
February, where we barely made it because it's a short month. So because the
weather has started to get a little better and because I finally got a little
less lazy we got our bikes fixed and have started biking when possible.
Obviously we can't only bike because it would be a 6 hour bike ride to get from
one side of the area to the other haha. But when we stay in Crown Point we've
started to ride our bikes around from place to place.
Wow, are my legs sore!
Like I'm literally getting destroyed, but all is well, because it's actually
pretty fun. Of course I do really struggle to keep up with my extremely fit
companion who was in a biking area before this one. But there is this bike that
some missionary left in our apartment and it has one of those super cushioned
seats and I might steal it because oh my goodness the soreness is getting to
me. Elder Jensen said everyone will make fun of me for being soft and for
having a cushioned seat but why would I care! I'd be a whole lot more
comfortable then them!
Also I got really sick
again (which is the worst because I got sick like 3 weeks ago and it shook me
for like a whole week and this one feels the exact same) and I wonder if it's
because we were riding and I got hot so I took off my jacket and then it felt
freezing, but better than hot right? And I think that might be why. But it's
worth it because we are saving on our miles like wizardry. So the first day I
was sick it was super windy and biking in the wind is SO HARD. Or maybe I'm
just super soft. But I kid you not that day I was riding probably even slower
than someone would walk just trying to keep up with Elder Jensen and when I
made it to him I told him I felt like the people in Mormon 2:14 who did curse
God and wish to die.
So Elder Jensen was
making fun of me and told me to drink an energy drink. I refused naturally
because I don't even drink soda, and literally just a mountain dew makes me
hype. But after riding like 2 more feet there was a family express (that's like
a gas station that's only in Indiana) and I succumbed, went in and bought a bang.
(that's an energy drink that I'm pretty sure is also only in Indiana) so these
are some of the most powerful energy drinks and apparently it's advised to
drink them overtime….but I definitely drank the whole thing in less than a
minute and we biked home and I still felt weak and all it did was make me burp
like none other!
Then we got back to
the apartment to eat lunch and It was the weirdest feeling! We did weekly
planning right after that and this was probably the most memorable weekly
planning session I've ever had! I was still sick so I had the chills and my
legs were super sore and dead, but my mind and my blood felt like they were
going like a billion miles an hour! After weekly planning we did some tracting
and Elder Jensen said I was so energized and a little nuts that he's never
laughed harder in his mission. And then that night I felt like straight trash
because I was still super sick so I took a NyQuil and probably combined two
things in my body and woke up the next morning feeling like a zombie. So from
this experience I probably will never drink an energy drink ever again, however,
I did not feel sick that day so that was pretty cool.
I feel like the only
other thing that really happened this week is that we taught this non-denominational
Christian dude who really just kinda wanted to bash, which was lame. But as we
were having the discussion, I couldn't help but think of how grateful I am for
my religion! This is the true church of Jesus Christ that has been restored to
the fullness! We taught this friend of ours the plan of salvation and he
disagreed with every single part of it.
Some of the parts that
hit me the hardest are that he disagreed with the spirit world and said that those
who have never heard of Jesus Christ will go to hell! (Lame) He also said that
there is no point in progressing in this life. He said who cares about being
with family forever because we'll be in the presence of God so that it'll be
like the most intense church meeting ever for eternity. Sounds lame and like
the terrestrial kingdom to me. I want to be with God and Jesus Christ and my
family forever and I know that is possible through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The doctrine of this gospel is beautiful. There is no other gospel doctrine as
wonderful as this one. There is no other thing better to believe in. I'm so
grateful for the belief and knowledge that I have about this gospel.
That's about it for my
week! The church is true, and even if it wasn't, the lifestyle of living this
gospel is the best and is life changing which proves that it is true. Have a
legendary week!
Elder Jensen
Pics
1: Trump's place
2: The promised land
3: Literally the only
time I've been in front of Elder Jensen on the bikes so I had to capture the
moment
4: Right after we went
running with a member of the ward on p-day one time
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