"He's going home"

I am going to forgo this weeks Quote of the week explanation because it would end up taking away the thunder from what will be the crux of this email, so... Read on to find out what that quote is from...

(Enter Darth Vader)

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!"

Well... It's official. I am leaving Hayward. We had transfer calls Saturday night. That confirmed it, and made it known to the general missionary public, but my companion and I actually found out what was happening with us on Wednesday. Allow me to explain.

On Wednesday morning, Elder Evans and I were enjoying what was at least for me a very pleasant personal study session. About half-way through our study (at around 9:30), we received a phone call. I looked down at the phone and saw the name President Durham flashing on the screen. In my mind I thought "Well that's odd. Why would President be calling us at this hour?" (I had conveniently forgotten that Wednesday mornings are when certain missionaries get "special" phone calls from the mission president). The call went something like this:

Me: (answers phone and sets it to speaker) "Hello President Durham, this is Elder Rivera.”

President: "Good morning Elder Rivera, is Elder Evans there?”

Me: (realization beginning to set in) "Yes, he is right here…"

President: "OK, are you both on the line now?”

Us: “Yes"

President: "OK, good. There are changes for both of you.”

From here he proceeded to tell us that Elder Evans is the new district leader and is also follow-up training a missionary who has been out for one transfer (training lasts for two transfers, so after your first transfer you still technically have one more of being "trained"). And then he moved on to me. When he was spilling the beans about what was going to happen with me this upcoming transfer, it sounded something like this: "Elder Rivakjgbkhfdhgkgkjf... Oakakgsbkjfhghfkjfksfnafd... 

Cartekjajfbgklksdfgkfdbvdfkjvbgdkfbfskfjkbgsjdfbksdfjbsdkbdksgbskfdbkjdfs..." 

In other words, he cut out pretty badly. So, naturally (continuing with the dialogue)…

Elder Evans: "Could you say the part about Elder Rivera again? You kind of cut out for a little bit.”

President: "Oh, yes. He's going home." (now you know where the Quote of the week comes from).

Us: …

President: "Just kidding." (I love President Durham). 

He then informed us that I would be transferred to Oakland, and I would be follow-up training as well. That's right folks, for some reason President Durham thought it would be a good idea to make me, of all people, a trainer. Luckily, the Elder I will be with (he goes by the name of Elder Carter) seems already to be a stupendous missionary and has had a stud companion for his first transfer, so I think that most of the actual "training" will be taken care of already. But still. 

That is not where you get the minor outburst from the beginning of this letter (courtesy of everyones favorite Sith Lord). No, I am, actually, very excited to be with Elder Carter, and equally excited to head up to Oakland (where I will be serving in both the Mandarin branch and an English ward, so that should be interesting...). 

No, the reason for that show of emotion (somewhat paradoxically, depending on how you look at it) is that I do not want to leave Hayward. We were just starting to get going here. We were finally doing it. Shaking off the chains of the mindset that had been instilled in us by our trainers. Throwing down the walls that we had erroneously constructed because of those false mindsets. We weren't being disobedient before, but once we decided we needed to get things going, we tried to more fully commit ourselves to the work. And we were finally starting to see the blessings from it. Humor me, if you will, and allow me to elaborate.

We had a discussion with an individual who is so prepared for the gospel they pretty much committed to obey every commandment and repent of their shortcomings, read the scriptures, pray, and be baptized without us even bringing anything but the scriptures up. The Chinese sisters at the visitors center had already taught him lesson one, so we went over just to read the Book of Mormon with him. As we were reading the introduction, he had a lot of good questions and comments that he voiced. After we were through reading the short passage, we just sat and talked to him for a while. And oh my goodness is he ready for the gospel. We invited him to continue reading the Book of Mormon; an invitation which he gladly accepted. He then started talking to us about how he wants to know the things that God wants him to do, and the things that God doesn't want him to do so that he can repent and find peace. He loves his family, and already believes that families can be eternal. He literally said that he has faith in Jesus Christ and wants to be baptized to better follow his example. We didn't extend a firm baptismal invite yet, but you already know that we will extend a date for them. Or rather... That the elders who are here will, since I'm leaving... (Kind of funny (and extremely aggravating) though, the Oakland sisters might end up teaching these people, for a variety of weird reasons, so this would be the second time they stole a super solid person from us. Last time they did it, the guy ended up being baptized. And people wonder why the Union City branch is so small).

So we had that man's family, along with several others that we were trying to work with. It was the first time in my mission that we could say we had a legitimate teaching pool, and not just one semi-interested person who was only talking the lessons because her member friend bullied her into it. But that's enough of that rant. I feel grateful that I at least got to participate in teaching that man once.

Sorry about this letter. I'm afraid that it is getting rather long. Feel free to take a bathroom break at any point.

On Friday we went to a "new trainers" meeting that, as you may have guessed, all the new trainers go to. It was a bizarre experience. We watched some training videos, received council from our leaders, and role-played a companionship study situation. So why was it bizarre, you ask? Well, let me put it this way. We attended a training about training. We watched The District where they watch The District. And, the cherry on top, we did a role-play of doing a role-play (as another added bonus, I was roleplaying to President Durham as if he were my trainee, so that was weird in and of itself (Elder Durham, will you please read this?). It was a really good and very informative training, though. I was pleased with it.

And, of course, we ate dinner with the Spanish members again, and as an added bonus I was once again unable to understand anything that was going on due to, you know, Spanish…

Anyway, now that you're all probably sick of reading some kid's letter, I will let you go. I suppose I will spare you from the other, more boring details of the week. It has been a real good time in Hayward, and I'll be sad to go, but I am still looking forward to the upcoming transfers in Oakland. 

Talk to you next week.

-Ben

P.S. It is pretty exciting because I will now meet in the huge stake center that is right on the temple grounds.

P.P.S. OK, now time for your vote: who is your favorite of the original New Testament Apostles... Peter or John? (Or anyone else, but I imagine that those are going to be the top two (remember, Paul wasn't one of the originals...).

P.P.P.S. I am going to include an rather famous excerpt from a talk given by Gordon B. Hinkley in October 1981. This is among my favorite things that has been said in general conference (for several reasons), and I think it is a good reminder on the importance of planning and preparation.

As I consider some of the problems people cause themselves by failing to look ahead, I think of a letter I clipped a long time ago from a newspaper. It was first published in England. I hope you will pardon a bit of humor. I use it only to set the stage for what I wish to say.

It appears that an English company owned a property in the West Indies. A violent storm damaged one of the buildings, and a man was sent to make repairs. Of his experience, he wrote the manager as follows:

“Respected Sir,

“When I got to the building, I found that the hurricane had knocked some bricks off the top. So I rigged up a beam with a pulley at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels full of bricks. When I had fixed the building, there was a lot of bricks left over.

“I hoisted the barrel back up again and secured the line at the bottom, and then went up and filled the barrel with extra bricks. Then I went to the bottom and cast off the line.

“Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was heavier than I was, and before I knew what was happening the barrel started down, jerking me off the ground. I decided to hang on, and halfway up I met the barrel coming down and received a severe blow on the shoulder.

“I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam and getting my finger jammed in the pulley. When the barrel hit the ground, it bursted its bottom, allowing all the bricks to spill out.

“I was now heavier than the barrel and so started down again at high speed. Halfway down, I met the barrel coming up and received severe injuries to my shins. When I hit the ground, I landed on the bricks, getting several painful cuts from the sharp edges.

“At this point I must have lost my presence of mind, because I let go of the line. The barrel then came down, giving me another heavy blow on the head and putting me in the hospital.

“I respectfully request sick leave.”

After hearing that, you may wonder how anyone could be so thoughtless and shortsighted. And yet every day we see people whose lives become entangled and who are bumped and bruised because they fail to plan, to think, to consult with others, to follow the teachings of the gospel.