Greetings from the sweetest place in the world, Hershey Pennsylvania! That’s right, I am currently serving in the city where the world famous chocolates were developed and mass produced. It’s way different than my last area for sure. Booney Bedford has nothing on the suburban metropolis of Hershey. And when I say “has nothing” I mean there is a more dense population in this city than in the giant rural area of Bedford County. The Bedford branch, with about a regular attendance of 60 people is dwarfed compared to Hershey’s 500+ member roster, making it the biggest ward in my mission. And not only are there two companionships covering this area (a walking companionship and a driving), I am in a tri-companionship with both Elder Brutinel (Prescott Arizona; 22; has been out for 9 months) and Elder Smith (Sterling Alaska; 20; has been out for 17 months). Things sure have been different this past week.
However, despite the large missionary effort in this ward, the work is slow. Elder Smith and I came into the area without any progressing investigators and hardly any potentials. We’ve been tracting quite a bit but the richer suburbs in this area create a huge barrier between us and nonmembers. People are less humble, and therefore are less subject to searching for the truth. In our area is actually a renowned Med School, Penn State, making our ward host to multiple young couples, the majority of which are students there. I already miss the peace and quiet that comes from an older ward.
My new companions are great. Elder Brutinel is a big softy that actually trained my MTC companion Elder Lavata’i and is a wonderful example of a loving, obedient missionary. He’s actually a convert to the Church of about two years, making his experience a very useful asset in empathizing with investigators. President Topham told me earlier this week that he would like me to be a trainer soon (yikes) and that I should soak up as much of those good missionary habits from Elder Brutinel as possible. Elder Smith is a funny missionary. His outlook on the work is very different and as I get to know him better he starts to open up more and more. I can really tell how shy he is around investigators. With our powers combined we make up CAPTAIN PLANET, I mean, the best missionary trio ever!
The ward (and our companionship) has a great vision and willingness to instigate missionary work so I hope our efforts may produce some notable fruit in this chocolate wasteland.
Elder Low
No comments:
Post a Comment