For the first time in my life, bad luck occurred on Friday the 13th. On my way to the shower after breakfast I stepped into a massive puddle of water in the middle of the kitchen floor. Having no idea how the puddle appeared there and watching it rapidly grow Elder Tebbs and I started running around the apartment trying to find towels to soak up the water and protect the carpets. Once we had the carpets protected, we started pulling all of our appliances out to try to find the leak. We couldn't find anything but we could clearly hear a hissing sound behind the wall by the water heater. We decided to turn off the water from the water heater and instantly the hissing stopped. Once maintenance came to the apartment they decided to cut off some sheet-rock and check the pipes. They found a small hole, and determined that it was necessary to replace the entire pipe.
We also had a specialized training this week. The topic was physical, emotional, and spiritual wellness and self-reliance. I really wish that I had this training week 1 in the field. There were a couple of training presented. The first one Sis. Baker taught was about personality colors and how to build off of each others strengths. One thing I really like about missions is learning how to get along with so many different kinds of people. The second one was taught by Pres. Baker. He taught us about the importance of self-reliance. He showed us through the scriptures how it is our responsibility to take care of ourselves in all things both temporally and spiritually. Learning to becoming self-reliant is part of our purpose here on earth. He then taught us how to create a budget because many missionaries were struggling with managing their money. This was the best budget training I have ever received. The last training was about our physical well-being and it was taught by our mission nurse Sis. Steadman. She taught us extremely basic things like, how long it takes food to go bad in a fridge and what kinds of bugs will kill you. We also learned about hygienic ways of preparing food. After the training President Baker decided to play Ompa Loompa with us. At one point president made a buzzer-beater half-court shot! All of the missionaries exploded with excitement.
Thing I learned this week:
When I was growing up my parent forced me to take piano lessons. Longs story short, I hated the piano and I was determined to quit, but my parents wouldn't let me. So I devised a plan... Whenever I was asked to practice, I practiced for not just 30 mins but for at least an hour. I played loudly. I would hop on the piano even when I wasn't asked to. I put 110% effort into playing the piano in the hopes that I would annoy my parents enough to have them pull me out of piano lessons. While they were annoyed with my childish behavior, this crazy thing started happening. I started rapidly improving. Songs that would have taken me months of work to learn became easy to learn. This realization of improvement made me want to work harder and soon enough, I was enjoying the piano. I was no longer playing the piano out of spite, but because I loved being able to musically express myself.
The gospel of Jesus Christ is exactly the same way. You must give it your all, and if you don't it will barely profit you anything. Once you make the decision to be 110% active, live your life like the prophet or Jesus Christ would, then your life starts to rapidly change. Actively search the scriptures. Actively make prayers meaningful. Actively search for answers to questions during church. Instead of accomplishing the minimum requirements, seek for excellence. I have seen Jesus Christ change lives.
-Elder Shill
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