Crazy Good Fish Dinner

On Monday, July 18, 2016 1:42 PM, Dustin Thelander <dustin.thelander@myldsmail.net> wrote:

After email last week, we did an amazing hike up in the Wrightwood Mountains. It was a beautiful 2 mile hike up which ended at an abandoned gold mine. There is still access into the mine, and we went in to check it out. We had ample lighting, and the group we were with was familiar with the caves. It was super cool. A lot of cool areas to explore, random running water and cool art. We spent a good while in there, and later in the day we went to see Lance in Apple Valley. He is a less-active member, and his wife is not a member who we are teaching. Both are super fun, and their son Little Lance is super funny. We shared with him how to deal with adversity as his job is frustrating him.

On Tuesday, we had our zone meeting, and it was alright. The messages given were great, and I got a lot out of them. But the meeting was so dry, dang it- an absolute snoozer. After that, we taught Lance again. He really loves us coming over, and he more than that, he loves the messages we share. We also saw Brother Roe and his sister in the evening and introduced the Addiction Recovery Program. It scares the heck out of Sister Tago, but she is willing to do it. So in preparation for that, I have been studying out of the ARP (Addiction Recovery Program) book, and it is amazing. I have felt a healing in myself just by putting myself through the phases. I am currently on step 5.

On Wednesday, we took out with us a return missionary, Malcolm, into the Apple Valley area. The plan was to see Lance and his wife, but they were not home. So, we tried a potential investigator named Jordan. He is a Samoan who actually happened to know Malcom. They played on the same rugby team a couple of years ago, so that worked out super well to have him with us. We taught him a lesson and set up some times we could catch him home. This was awesome as it is tough to find new Samoan people to teach. There are quite a few in the high desert, but they are spread out enough that we can't just knock doors trying to look for them. We rely on the members and their contacts to find new people to teach. We also saw one of our investigators in the Adelanto area as well, Daniel. He is a younger guy in a wheelchair, and he in the past has just said that all good things come from God and he is all good. But, we shared with him the message of the Book of Mormon and said to him if the book is true then so is the church, and baptism is the route you need to go. He responded great. He said if he comes to know it is true he is totally in for baptism. We look forward to our next lesson with him.

Thursday ended up being pretty slow in the morning and early afternoon, but we had a great evening, so that totally made up for it. We went out on splits with some members of the ward. Elder Ockey went to the Salvea's home with Malcolm, and I went to visit a good number of people with Brother Sagapolu. We saw Fuli Mau and taught them the importance of families. They loved the message, and then Sunday for the first time in a little while he came to church. On Friday, we weekly planned with our zone leaders, Elders Shumway and Jarvis. Both are really cool elders, and we had a great time with them. Were we a little distracted? Yes. Did we get good work done? Yes. After lunch, we went into the Adelanto area and saw brother Enos. He is in really bad shape with his back. He was in a lot of pain, and we were able to give him a priesthood blessing. It seemed to really help him, and he was so grateful. Our dinner was with the Hill family who know the HoChing's from Upland really well. Brother Hill's wife's sisters were all there as well, and it was a blast. They are all really fun and talk about the most random things.

Saturday we saw our recent convert, Shanay, and she was just so glad that we stopped by. Her phone is off now, and she said she just knew we would be over. We talked about the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it can continue to bless her after her baptism, and how it is necessary she follow it. She was at church Sunday with her kids, it was wonderful. We finally met with Joseph again, and he is still pumped to be baptized. Next step, teach him more of the lessons. We set up times to see him twice a week until his date of baptism comes. Then out dinner occurred, and it was incredible. I would venture to say it was my favorite and best meal of my mission thus far. Brother Sagapolu is a fisherman, and he gets a lot of great stuff for free. So our dish for the night was probably a 70 dollar Tuna steak raw and Sword Fish done perfectly on the stove. With those was a great homemade potato salad. Each piece of sword fish consumed was about 20 dollars worth. Dang, was it good. The tuna was a deep blood red, and the sword fish just melted away in the mouth. We ate leftovers of it the next day for lunch!!!!!!!!!!!

Not too much to report for Sunday aside from a great sacrament meeting put on by bishop Pauga's family. The topic was eternal families. It just rang out so clear to me and firmed my already strong testimony on how families can be together forever.

Today we plan to explore some cool abandoned hospital and have a zone activity to play some sports.

Scripture of the week is from 3 Nephi, chapter 3, verse 25, "And they did fortify themselves against their enemies; and they did dwell in one land, and in one body, and they did fear the words which had been spoken by Lachoneus (evil ruler), insomuch that they did repent of all their sins; and they did put up their prayers unto the Lord their God, that he would deliver them in the time that their enemies should come down against them to battle."

I think there is a message of how important families are in this verse. When times got bad they came together as a family, so to speak, and they prayed to be delivered. Their prayers were answered in the next chapter. When we don't have anything else, at least we have our families, and that is the way God intended it.

Love,

Elder Thelander

photos-me in the desert, one on the hike, and at the abandoned gold mine