[3/17/2014] Week 54: Looking to the Future

Hey, hey!

This week was kind of weird. I was sick almost all week with a cold, and on Friday, I ended up taking a Schedule B. I was pretty spacey in some of our lessons on Thursday night and Friday morning, so I guess it was clear I needed a break. Anyway, by now, I'm about 90%, so we're doing good!

In other news, Kellie Edwards was indeed baptized on the 13th in Utah! Whoop!

This whole transfer has been weird for me, and I don't really know why. The best way for me to describe it is to say that I have felt as though I were elsewhere. I mean, I was here in Blaine, of course. But I felt removed. In a lot of ways, I felt as though I went through the motions. It makes little sense to me because we have had more success here than I've ever experienced in my mission. But we got into a pretty good rhythm of seeing investigators several times a week on the same days of each week (Darien on Tuesdays and Thursdays, Denogeans on Fridays and Sundays, Edwards' on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays, etc.), and I think I got bored of it. Or something. So I fell into a rut. And I've been sort of floating. And now that most of those people are baptized and many are handed off to ward missionaries/home teachers. Some days are better than others. But some days, I just am out of it. I don't know how much sense I'm making. All I know is that I spent three transfers in both of my previous areas, and in both I was desirous to stay for a fourth. But here, where I've had incredible success, and where there is lots more coming down the pipeline, I kind of feel like I need (or maybe just want) a change. Just something different. I don't really know why. I love the members, and I love our converts and investigators. I have a darn good companion.

That said, yesterday and the day before were an upswing. So currently, I feel like I can definitely do another transfer here and work hard and enjoy it. In other words, I'm bipolar.

I was hesitant to say all that because I feel like I'm doing fine, and I don't want anyone to worry. And I don't want to sound like I'm complaining or, to be honest, like I'm incompetent. Now that I write all of that out, I feel silly.

The next-to-bottom line is: I would not mind staying here in Blaine. I would love to. I would not mind a fresh scene. I would love that. That's just what I'm feelin'.

The bottom line is: It's not about me, and I understand that.

Aaron and I

Let me tell you about Aaron. He is a referral received from Kevin (mentioned a few weeks ago), the less-active member from Salt Lake City. Aaron worked at Subway with Kevin, but has heretofore been let go (some money came up missing, and so a slough of employees were punished). Well, we were introduced to Aaron on Monday night, set an appointment to teach him for Thursday afternoon, saw him by chance at the library on Tuesday morning, had a short Restoration pamphlet lesson with him at the local Pizza Factory, invited him to be baptized, learned that he was MIA on Thursday and missed our appointment, he reappeared on Friday (he had gone to Seattle for some legal paperwork), took him to a baptism in Lynden on Saturday, put him on-date on Saturday evening, took him to church on Sunday morning and to a dinner appointment on Sunday evening where he talked about how genuine Latter-day Saints are, how he feels inexplicably drawn to make this course-change in his life, and where he asked how long until he can serve a mission. Oh, right. Aaron is 20 (just 23 days older than I) and he's homeless. Well, he calls it semi-homeless because he's currently sleeping on the floor in a Farmers Insurance office during the nighttime. But he rummages through dumpsters behind Cost Cutter in search of stale donuts -- his entree of choice most nights. Yesterday morning, a member of the bishopric asked if any of us were hungry, and Aaron responded, "No thanks. I had dinner." He's been in foster families through California and Montana for most of his life. All of the families he lived with were careless and abusive. He worked on a fishing boat in Alaska for a short time before getting involved in a fist  fight and being booted. He also mentioned that he worked on a cafeteria staff at a research lab in Antarctica. I guess he gets fired a lot. He leads an unstable life. But he also hopes and dreams, passions and talents. He wants to own and operate a bike shop one day. He has a special love for Montana, always slipping in comments about how Blaine is nice, but not like his old home state. He has seen the joy that Elder Jones and I have in doing missionary work and desires it for himself.

Now, don't fret! We're not poachers! We've got an appointment set with the Bellingham YSA elders to hand him off tomorrow afternoon. In fact, that's what we would have done on Thursday, but as I mentioned, Aaron took a slight detour, so we had to reschedule.

Dad, you're right. I've always had a problem with thinking about the future. I can't help it! It's just that I want to be absolutely sure I get all my ducks in a row so that I have the best opportunities possible. I mean there are certain timelines with applications and whatnot that don't exactly agree with my mission end-date. I just don't want to lose any extra time in getting my career and all that started. I guess I just don't trust Heavenly Father enough in that sense. Maybe what I meant with my request last week is for you to do research in my behalf. Just look around and research so that I don't have to. And I don't need to hear about any of it as of right now. I just want to know that I'll have a pool of information to dip into when the appropriate time does come to start college endeavors. Does that make sense?

Regardless, I still have a deferment to BYU for when I return home. And I'm definitely grateful for that safety net (not necessarily a last resort), but I don't want that to end up going there just because I've been guaranteed a spot.

That sounds like some crazy stuff going on the tech world. This is an opportunity for you to really get in the game, pops! Do research! Become the go-to guy for the forefront material! That would be awesome. You could probably knock five to ten years off your age if you became well-versed in the new stuff. :p You'd also have to get some thick-rimmed glasses and salt-and-pepper hair dye. And tight-ish dress jeans with pointy black dress shoes and a silky black button-up shirt, sleeves rolled up and tail untucked.

Love y'all!

Elder Martin