March 29, 1997, Saturday
[…] We taught a cool family and the kids are going to ditch the JW’s to go with us.
March 30, 1997, Sunday
Church was cool and the kids’ came. On the way back, on the bus Kaisha and [?] got off. [Kaisha] went up to the window where I was [sitting] and said, “Priddis, Yo te quiro a ti.” I was shocked. The bus was packed and everyone heard it. […] She yelled it again, and again. Wow. I was embarrassed [and] flattered […] I was asked to be a ZL [today].
March 31, 1997, Sunday.
Bad Bad weather. Yuck. But we just stopped by a gator’s home and she was there. When we walked in she said. “You know? I didn’t get to read the book.” We were [sad], She said, “Ya, my man took it and wouldn’t stop reading it.” She said she’s going to be Mormon […] It was the bomb. Then we taught her brother, he’s way cool […].
April 1, 1997, Tuesday
I packed and moved. I found out today a bunch of people are going home this morning. The AP’s called for Erica, a very […] beautiful girl in our branch […]. [Elder] told me today the guy who baptized her, [Elder], rode the wild pony with her. Another elder [going] home for girl problems. Satan is attacking us all. Crazy but I’m pumped to be here in East New York. Oh ya.
April 2, 1997, Wednesday
Things are looking good. I’m doing my best. We finished transferring today. It was kinda weird there today. […] We went with President McFarlin today. The guy who does apartments for all the missionaries. Then he took us out to eat […] We ate so much. He spent $100 on us. He ordered half the restaurant. I about died. He told us of his conversion and many other things. It’s incredible. […]
April 3, 1997, Thursday
Well, we’re all moved in. I might be here for 2-3 months. So, far all is well. We’ll see what happens. Who knows? I would love to finish my mission in Dyker or Rego Park. […]
April 4, 1997, Friday
Well, we had a zone meeting and it was awesome. The AP’s showed up and we talked smack about their record […]that we were going to have 18 by Sunday. They laughed. Then I went on splits to solidify all of the commitments in Brownsville because I left like 10 people for them to baptize and all of them needed to do it. It went good. We taught Yeleny’s boyfriend and committed him too. He’s way cool. I’m pumped.
THOUGHTS
Some members were not pleased with the missionaries. They believed we were baptizing too many people. But, those baptisms led to the creation of 15 to 20 branches during the time I was on my mission. I don’t know exactly what to say about it. President Bailey told us that when he arrived in New York to serve as the mission president, he was prepared with traditional programs. But after arriving, he felt inspired that if the mission was going to grow, we needed to baptize everyone. So we did. He taught us and we followed. I was pretty zealous to make it follow his lead, as is obvious in my many posts. It didn’t please everyone. Enough so that at some point in the near future, Elder Ballard came and spoke. I remember we went to a big meeting in the building that was to become the New York New York Temple in Manhattan. Elder Ballard told us we were baptizing people too fast. We clearly were not perfect, but I will forever be grateful to President Bailey for his inspiration, example, and leadership.
The elder who was sent home from his mission. If I remember right, he baptized her. A few days later, he snuck out in the middle of the night to go visit her. How does that happen? It happens by not locking your heart. Even I had a hard time. Satan was attacking us left and right. There were times I was incredibly aware of how beautiful some of them were. I had taken this part out, but I wrote that at transfers there was a girl there. I don’t know what it was, but when she spoke to me, it got to me. I wrote, “I melted looking into her eyes. I got out of there, fast.” Sometimes you can’t prevent the thought or the feeling, it just happens. But you can choose your actions. I got out of there, fast. I was not going to hang around and dwell on that. And I for sure was not going to sneak out and show up at her place in the middle of the night.
Spencer W Kimball – Lock Your Heart
I was made a co-zone leader at this time. It was one of those times that the stars aligned and I was lucky enough to be part of something really amazing.