This week was... a week, that's for sure. Monday and Tuesday went pretty "normal". Wednesday, the truck started acting up, so we called the vehicle coordinator who told us to drive to Albuquerque. It's a good thing we had budgeted our miles, because we coughed up 300 in 3 days. So on Thursday, we drive the 50-60 miles to ABQ and drop off the truck at the place we were told to, and got picked up by the zone leaders and did weekly planning at their apartment. Then, we were called about the truck, telling us the fixed the initial problem, but that there was a leak in the truck that we would have to take it back on Friday for them to fix. We were told that we could drive it, so we did, which we used to drive back to Laguna, to pack 1 day's worth clothes, and we drove back to ABQ that night- thus destroying 170 of our last 350 miles for the month.
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| Elder Dial's shoes after Wednesday |
That brings us to Friday, which was potentially the worst day of my whole mission. We take in the truck to the place as early as possible (8:30 or so) so it can be fixed and back up to speed. We go to our zone council meeting, and lunch, which takes us to 12:30ish, and still no call about the truck. We decided to go do some service with our zone leaders, and that took about 3-4 hours. Now it's about 4:30, and no call about the truck. We elected to call them, and they told us, "We can't fix that leak, you should probably take it to the dealership. You can still drive it, though. " -_- We decide to take the truck, go to our one appointment in To'hajiilee, then go back to our trailer to grab clothes till Tuesday night, (just in case we needed them). We were already about an hour late to our appointment (we told them what was going on). But, with the area getting rain last week, and the dirt roads... yeah, we ended up getting stuck for about 45 minutes, even in 4 wheel drive. At that point, it was about 6:30 when we got stuck. We didn't have phone service either, so it was quite the adventure. When we got out, around 7:15, it would take us 30 minutes to get home, and then the hour to get to ABQ, so we went home instead of to the appointment (Elder Cornelison had gotten out to start pushing, he was all muddy and wanted a shower) (we were able to reschedule with them, though), hoping to get something for dinner before we headed back to ABQ, which didn't happen. With everything that happened that day, when we got back to the zone leaders apartment, we hadn't had dinner, or even personal or comp study. That took about 140 more miles out, so even if we wanted to go back to our area on Saturday, we couldn't.
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| Elder Cornelison's shoes after pushing the truck out |
To top it all off, that night, I'm writing in a notebook what I've learned that day, and how I've seen God's hand that day, as I have every day since August. As I'm writing, "I learned today that I hate car troubles" my FLIPPING pen dies. Needless to say, sleep and General Conference was a glorious welcome to these missionaries. (The leak in the truck STILL isn't fixed, though.)
On a much happier note, General Conference was fantastic! I am not sad that Elder Hales passed away, though. I think he had the ideal passing. The last song he heard was sung by the best choir in all the world, a song that should be our motto throughout life, and was his: "I Believe in Christ". My favorite phrase from that song says:
"And while I strive through grief and pain
His voice is heard, 'Ye shall obtain."
But, the only catch, is that that part has to be sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. They make that phrase right there, the first climax of the whole song. If you don't believe me, go and listen to it.
This week may have been a difficult one for us, but that's alright! We grow all the time, no matter the grief and pain we all have, if we press forward in faith, "[we] shall obtain".
Te whanaunga mo ake tonu! :)
Elder Eli James Dial
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