May 7, 1997, Wednesday
Surprise, President Bailey called and asked me to go to Red Lobster with them. [If you know, you know] So, I ate Red Lobster. Cool. Our activity tonight sucked. Our zone sucked. All of it sucked. But at least Red Lobster was nice. Thanks, President Bailey.
May 8, 1997, Thursday
Well, what a day. It actually went good. We taught a few really good people and they are so wonderful. We taught Mary Tuesday and found her… I can’t remember… Saturday maybe? She’s going to be baptized Sunday. She’s pumped. And Maritza, who has a handicapped daughter, […] […] [Companionship Issues… reasoning… food…money…] The other day we ate at Martha’s a girl [Elder] and [Elder] baptized. She told us about a psycho-possessed boyfriend she had. Who tried to kill her then stabbed her and kidnapped her. She got free and he got shot to death breaking through a police barricade after a long car chase. Wow. we found out Cindy’s husband was a cocaine addict and that her baby always is throwing up because it’s going through pain withdrawals. Oh great. Dang wierd things here.
May 9, 1997, Friday
Well, we had Zone Meeting. Nice. We went to our commitments home and she wasn’t there. When we got back to the house she called at 9:30 she’s our commitment so we went over and didn’t get back until 1 AM. Opps. that happens.
May 10, 1997, Saturday
Well, we walked hard and had a lot fall through. We’re planning on 2 baptisms Sunday.
May 11, 1997, Sunday
We had 2 baptisms. Our zone had 4. We had planned on having 2 more that evening and they fell through. […] Then we got back that night and it being Mother’s Day and everyone was on the phone so I had to tell them to call the next day. The other elders all had to call the future Mothers of America.
May 12, 1997, Monday
We had Leaders Meeting today and wow, did we [our zone] get praised. […] Anyhow we got back and went and committed Veronica, the Cousin of Yelena to get baptized. cool. On the way to the church to have a baptism we saw Monica and she was still excited to get baptized. So that’s 3 more for this week we’re working on. We were going to have the 2 tonight that fell through last night but Leslie’s husband got drunk [and] got in a wreck a long way from home and so we rescheduled it for Thursday. Then I talked to my family and they are good. I talked to them until 1 AM. […]
May 13, 1997, Tuesday
We’re at 16 and I need 8 more to hit 100. This is my month. I went on a split with [Elder] and [Elder]. But the one good thing [we] played pool in a legit gambling joining [leaving the other details out]. We went to the Velez family. [Who] were baptized. Their 4 kids were working with the parents trying to get them to sleep in different rooms and he refused then she gave us a ride to the church and she told us on the way she wanted to get baptized and he was being stubborn or a jerk. She’s going to make him do it. Separate till they get married. Not bad ya. She told us she doesn’t even enjoy it anymore. She feels bad and has a guilty conscience. Ya not bad. So we went to Mary’s tonight and he is pumped to go to the temple and I’m pumped for her to go. She’s going to go next month. In June.
May 14, 1997, Wednesday
What a lazy day. We went and tried to have our 2 baptisms we planned and nothing. We got there we got screwed on the cab […] No gator. No baptism. Blaugh. Crappy Day.
May 15, 1997, Thursday
Well, we tried with Lessley again today but her husband is sick because of the other night when he got drunk so we’re going to try one more time tomorrow when he feels better. I hope it all goes well. [Elder] had one so now we’re at 17. And President Bailey wants us to hat 47. That is 30 more wow. That’s quite a few. We need a miracle. We’ll see what happens. Our convert gave us an LL Cool J CD and it sucks. It’s got a song on it called “Doin it, Doin it, and Doin it well”. Oh man, [Elder] loves it because he heard it all the time with [Elder] the craziest guy to ever come here. I have to leave every time they play that song. It’s bad. [Elder] exaggerates that this is the second-largest church in the world. Actually, not even close. He also tells new members the church moved from New York to Utah because they were being butchered and murdered everywhere, thousands and thousands of them. All in cold blood. [That is a little exaggerated]. [Elder] says everybody wears crosses. Go ahead wear a cross. What? Well, we had interviews with President Bailey today. He told me I was never going to be a Zone Leader. […] It’s a modern miracle. I changed. […] He also said I was the most consistent worker everywhere. […]
NOTES: I had a pretty turbulent mission. I butted heads with a few of my companions. I had one who had a girlfriend (out there). I caused a problem between the mission president and Salt Lake. I had what might be considered a meltdown. I pushed the envelope at times. I baptized people too fast. I irritated a lot of my companions. I was stubborn and at times walked and walked and walked thinking that if we just walked a little more or a little harder we would succeed. But then at times, I knew how to listen to and follow the spirit.
At this point in my life, that is hard to read; “I was never going to be a Zone Leader.” As though that was pre-determined. Well, if I think about it, I wasn’t the best missionary. I had no leadership ability. And I was severely held back by my past. It was only a few years earlier that was a drug addict and living a completely different life and probably should not have been allowed to serve a mission. I remember being in the MTC and my branch president in the MTC trying to convince me to go home because he didn’t think I should be there. No part of this was truly easy. But, it was the best decision I have ever made in my life, to go and serve.
Funny story, a few years after my mission President Bailey came out for a mission reunion. I was introducing him to my new wife. I told him, going on a mission was the best decision I ever made. He looked at Nicole and said, No, she is the best decision you ever made. That is true.