Locating our homeless friend

So we received a referral for a guy named Ryan. Gave him a call, which turned out to be an hour long conversation… wait no that’s not the right word, hour long monologue, there we go! He’s a nice guy, very spiritual and connected to energy, feeling shifts in the environment and stuff. So we call him and I ask him what makes him interested in signing up for baptism which turned into an hour of him talking. The topics of his monologue (that I can remember) include: ICBC being evil, getting revenge on the people down-town, all religions lead back to God, something big’s going to happen, his girlfriend, and back to baptism. He was shocked when we called, he said how funny it was that we called at the time we did. At the end of his rant we finally got back to where we started, the topic of baptism. I briefly shared what baptism is, it’s a physical manifestation of a Spiritual commitment, starting a new life following Jesus Christ. He was shocked, oh my gosh he yelled. He started to cry a bit, and he said it all makes sense. He got so excited, he was like, who do I need to talk to, to get baptized? What do I need to do? I said, you are talking to the right guys, we are here to support you and help you make this commitment. And then I gave him a run down that he needed to be taught all the lessons, come to church, follow the commitments so that he manifests by his works that he has received the Spirit of Christ unto repentance. He was like, alright, so when can we meet? We set up an appointment for the next day.

So at this point, we didn’t know the guy was homeless. I even checked his address (that came with his referral), it’s definitely on a house. So I thought we were solid, but spoiler alert, we weren’t!

Since he didn’t have a license (long story that he shared with us about ICBC), we decided to meet him where he’s at. Which he shared happened to be around the mall. So we agreed to meet at the library. When we met up with him at the library, he shared that he had a better place he would like to meet. He shared a few directions and said we’ll meet at a big concrete building. The directions sounded okay, until we started driving. We then realized that we had no idea what he was talking about. So we basically do a wild goose chase trying to locate this guy. He was just walking on the sidewalk so we would drive up a bit far away, pull off into a parking lot and see which directions he took. Honestly, kinda creepy, but we’re just doing the work of the Lord. We get up to this one long road with a neighborhood on the side. We pull over and wait, and we wait, and we keep waiting. But to our terror he was gone. So we loop back around, trace back where we were and he’s nowhere to be found. I have absolutely no clue what big concrete building he’s talking about.

We gave him a call, got a bit more clear instructions, parked on the side of the road, and walked over to these concrete barriers. I’m still wondering, what the heck concrete building he was talking about, but this must have been it. We finally meet up with him, and he shares that he’s so glad we could make it. He then told us to follow him into the forest, he said that there was a place in there we could teach him. So anyways, we follow him into the forest. Now if I felt to Spirit to any degree say this is a bad idea I would’ve totally backed out of it. But Elder Jessop and I felt pretty good, and I thought there must be a house or something that we’ll meet at here. As we walk through the forest he notices a head lamp that’s powered which was left on a log. He’s like, this has been such a weird day. And I was thinking, yeah it sure has been haha. We finally made it to our destination. And to Elder Jessop and I’s surprise it’s a big tent and his campsite. He walks over to the tent, opens the door, and says please please, come in. Elder Jessop and I look at each other, and we share the secret word “which is our first name” to use to signal that we need to leave. At this point I’m really trying to follow the Spirit making sure this is right or not, and I didn’t feel like we needed to leave so we went inside.

He basically gave us another hour long monologue, said a lot of the same stuff. He got quite emotional at parts. It was getting dark and cold, so we told him we needed to get going soon. But I gave him a Book of Mormon and briefly shared what it is. He lost his mind, he was so happy. He said that he knew it, he knew it. Reflecting on that experience, I’m glad we were able to make his day. Even though it could’ve been pretty sketchy and took out most of our night, he definitely needed it.

So we likely won’t be seeing Ryan anymore. But a fun experience nevertheless. You truly will never forget some of the people you meet on a mission.

The Transformative Nature of the Doctrine of Christ

We received a call on Friday asking if we would be willing to give a talk on Sunday. I agreed to give a talk, too bad I didn’t really have much time to prepare. But it was a good experience, glad it all worked out. I was a bit stressed out, because I didn’t get much time at all to put it together. But, God works in mysterious ways, and it all worked out.

For those that are interested in reading it you can find it here. I honestly didn’t think it was anything too great, but many members of the ward liked it. I credit God one hundred percent for that, that definitely wasn’t me that made it good haha.

A New Assignment

After a bunch of weekly planning on Monday we decided to go out and spend our White Spot gift card–that the wonderful members gave us! As we are sitting, enjoying our expensive but very good burgers, we receive a call. It’s the social media sisters. We were both a bit confused why they would be calling us, and we were like, you know what, we’ll call them back afterwards. So we continued to keep enjoying our food. They then send us the following text, “Give us a call ASAP.” Alright, well now things are getting really weird. But you know it can’t be that important… President or the APs would call if it were, so Elder Jessop gets his second serving of endless fries. Once the bill was paid, we walked out to the car and called them back.

Now I’m going to be honest, that wasn’t really an ASAP worthy call, but man that’s so cool! I’m actually so excited! Basically they share how excited they were that we were calling them back. They then said that this news pertained to me and potentially my companion (Elder Jessop), depending on what happens with transfers. Sister Bryson basically said, you know how you have a camera, and a bunch of gear and stuff, and that you are a genius, and good with video and editing. And I was like maybe… but minus the genius part haha. They then extended the assignment for me to be a content creator for the social media page (Christ’s First Light). I was like no way! So of course I accepted the assignment.

We talked about some of the logistics of it, they asked me what gear I had, and if there was anything else I needed. I said a tripod, and if possible a gimbal would be incredible, some good mics would be good too but it seems like we don’t have much of those. We talked about how I edit videos, they asked me about one video I made for the district in Prince George. I replied that I put it together using an old Family History computer that was used by the missionaries that still had Davinci Resolve on it. But I shared how it wasn’t exactly the smoothest experience, the computer crashed nearly 20 times while putting together the video, so it wasn’t too ideal. Unfortunately in Nanaimo, there isn’t a single computer with Davinci Resolve installed. So that makes things a little hard, I would need to get someone to install it who had administrative control over those computers. I could try to install the sketchy portable version to make it work, but it’s kind of iffy. They shared that they can maybe give me a social media laptop, but the supply is tight, so they aren’t sure if it would work. But you know, we’ll figure it out! If that doesn’t work, I have a few ideas on how we can make this work.

They said we’ll be coordinating and working closely with each other, planning and producing content, we’ll be having a meeting beginning tomorrow I believe. Yeah, so lots of things to look forward to. Honestly, a dream come true. I’ve always thought it would be so cool to get involved with this on the mission.

I’m honestly very surprised that President Gill has been using me to make new assignments. But hey! I’m super looking forward to it! I am totally good to serve in any assignment other than AP haha.

Transfer News

Well, then transfer news came in. Kinda wish I can stay in Nanaimo for one more, but I’m still really looking forward to things ahead. I’ll be going to Abbotsford, serving in Fraser Valley. Super exciting stuff! My new companion is Elder Blake, I’ve met him briefly, but he seems super cool! Lots to look forward to for the future, I hope I’m prepared for it all.