June 3, 1996
Wow, rain all day. 12 hours straight. Wow did we get wet. It’s a good thing we didn’t have an appointment today or we wouldn’t have gotten very wet. A member made us some hot chocolate. That was nice of them. Well, that’s about the extent of it all. Transfer calls came and [Elder] and I are together for one more month. Me and [Elder]. It’s cool. I do enjoy working with him. We are learning a lot. I feel so wore out and brain dead. I have had a bad toothache today. The cap on one of my teeth raised up and I kept biting it all day. It only got worse and worse of course. But I’m better for the moment. We run into a lot of Jehovah’s Witnesses. They proselyte with the whole family, little kids and all. If I were a little kid I would die having to do that on my Saturdays.
June 5, 1996
Today was transfers. I had a dentist appointment today with Pena. I went in and felt like a wimp, after I had an x-ray I knew why. She said, this is not good news. You need a root canal. Ahhhh! She did it very well, the first half. I have to go back Saturday for the other half. I’m not going to tell my family either. They’ll just worry about me. When the anesthetic wore off, that is when I became a baby. I had no idea it could hurt so bad. I can’t sleep. I just hurt. The Lortabs are helping, tylenol was not cutting it. It was weird, she drilled a hole then look a needle and poked it down the roots trying to pop the infection or something, but then put root killer in and sealed it. I didn’t feel a thing but my body apparently didn’t like it and is telling me after the anesthetic wore off.
We played ball today. My comp and I in the middle of the “population” park in our area. They go, “hay, come play.” So we did. Then they were like, “go get your shorts and shoes.” We were like, “no, it’s OK.” Their like, “Youre going to play in ties?” We said, “Yep.” We whooped them 15-10. It’s funny to see black boys in front of all their friends and neightbors getting whooped by 2 white boys. I loved it. It also draws a crowd. But, it’s not good to stay and play too many games winning them all because they get a little hostile. With my companion I think never lost one game out of 20 we have played. The words out we are people to beat. We’re getting our selves quite the reputation and already have quite the respect at the Rebock Black Top Courts where the good people play.
NOTE: This was obviously exciting to be a part of. But it was 0% because of me and 100% because of [Elder], [Elder] and [Elder]. My companion is amazing. Me, I am good at tossing the ball in. That is about it.
They get so into their game. A couple of white boys from Utah come into NYC and clean house. They all want to know which college you play for and have white NBA names for you. Like my comp they are calling Sean Bradley and John Stockton. But me, I haven’t gotten a good one. I got called Bill Clinton. What? One day long ago when [Elder] was my companion, I would go off on baptisms I had great vision. I explained my theory how if we got 660 baptisms how 70% of them would come from 30% of the missionaries, how there would be missionaries getting 40-50-60 baptisms every month. Well, needless to say, my faith is coing back along with vision. I just lost my vision and fire 6 months ago. 40-50 a month is a good goal. Very good, that’s alot more than 3. And 3 a month wares me out.
As I was reading this last paragraph. I was a bit surprised, towards the end of my mission, I ended up being a zone leader and had a month were my zone baptized 44 people in East New York, Brooklyn. I don’t think I have ever worked harder in my life. I would consider that the pinnacle of my mission.
Also, as I reflect back on my mission, I consider my time with [Elder] a turning point for me. I was in a 6 month funk. My companion during this time was a great example to me. He had amazing drive, skills, and determination. He helped me see the light through the dark heavy clouds that had formed around me.
As I type this up, I worry that I was difficult to other missionaries and was blind to it. I reminiscing on it, I remember feeling like I was a machine and would just go, go, go at what felt like an unrelenting speed. I hope I had moments of patience, love, and kindness with my companions. I can see typing all of this up, that I needed some of that. I hope I provided some of that. I hope I wasn’t blind to it.
June 6, 1996
Well, [Elder] went on splits today so my companion and [Elder] went to work and I stayed home. I sat awake till like 4 AM and slepped until 5:30 or 6. I hurt all night long. I coudln’t sleep so I rested furing the day today. We were going to have a baptism tonight and it fell through and then our dinner appointment which had canceled rescheduled so we went to eat at the Cordova’s. Wow, he had a big bazooka speaker in his car and a 10 disc player. Wow, grande musica! I liked it. We listened to it loud all the way there.
After dinner he told a a story how he translated for President Hinckley at Radio City Music Hall. He talked about how spiritual the experience was. Wow, how his scriptures were a mess and he had one or two words for notes and just talked by the spirit with tears flowing. He had his eyes closed and felt people in white were all around him. Wow, 6000 people watching him translate and what a responsibility it was.