Hey everyone!
Today marks a full week I’ve been in the field! Despite my hopes, the MTC did not prepare me at ALL for what was to come in the field. I mean, of course, learning the lessons was nice, but I was not ready to knock at all. We’re knocking for 3+ hours per day, giving back-to-back lessons, and NONSTOP BIKING. Yep, I’m in a biking area. In Tucson. At least I’m getting my exercise in! I’m gonna go from a weak little Asian boy into a slightly less weak little Asian boy! Also, I am getting the best sleep of my LIFE here! 9+ hours every day, as compared to my 6-7 [hehe] hours back at home. Anyways, let’s get into the week.
Tuesday (8/4)
The worst day of sleep I’ve ever gotten in my life. 1 hour. I mean it was totally my fault I went to bed late, but that doesn’t mean I can’t complain. I had to wake up at 3:30 AM to get on this train to the airport. Said goodbye to the besties, Elder Goodfellow and Elder Tafisi… Elder Burgett was OUT but I already said bye the night before. Broooo I’m gonna miss them a lot. When we got out into the street, I was delegated to become the leader of our group of 24 to get everyone to the airport safely. I wish I could say I did a good job, but we missed the first bus… So we were rushing to get onto the next one which came 30 minutes later, and then finally we got to the airport. I met some cool people there that were also going to Tucson… Obviously I knew my MTC companion already (Elder Pieroth). But I met Elder Hale, Elder, Elder Baker, and Elder Rahn too, who were all pretty cool! They let me show some magic tricks as well.. On the plane ride, there was a protestant missionary (a middle-aged filipino lady) who wanted to have a “discussion” with us LDS missionaries. Oh boy. I mean she was completely surrounded by missionaries so everyone was like whispering to each other and telling each other what to say. But Elder Hale was the GOAT!! He spent like the entire 2 hours basically talking to this lady and not backing down. Shoutout to him, cause I mean he had no field experience… He’s gonna be a great missionary. He’s actually in my district now! When I stepped outside of the airport, HOLY!!!! That is the hottest air I’ve ever felt. 107 degrees!! We then met the mission president, President Loo (pronounced “Low”, found that out quickly…) Anyways, the rest of the day was kinda just orientation and all. We also went to the Tucson temple. It was so pretty! We then slept at a senior missionary couple’s home. I PROMISE NOT EVERY DAY IS GOING TO BE AS LONG AS THIS!
Wednesday
So, rough morning. First off, I fell off my bed. I was on like this inflatable mattress on a metal frame, and like the whole mattress just fell off the frame and dumped me onto the floor. But to make up for that, I got my trainer! ELDER BALLS!!!! It was kinda funny too (like his name), cause we talked a little bit before and I was like I hope I get you as my trainer! So that was really cool! And then he told me we were in a biking area. In 100+ degree weather. Not so cool. Anyways, he’s really chill but also really mission-focused, which is the type of person I want to be. So I’m glad I got a great example as my trainer! We went shopping (I got my burger supplies of course…) Then we go tracting (knocking on doors) for a little bit (straight to work!) Not really any luck, as I kind of expected, but we met with this guy named Nathan who is really fun! He actually just got out of jail (not sure what for) and he has 2 daughters, both teenagers. He always has the CRAZIEST stories every time we meet him, but he’s really cool, and we put him on date for baptism! First day! I mean it was all Elder Balls… but I explained a little bit of stuff too! Then, we met with a guy named Danny after, who’s a video game developer just like me! So that conversation was really fun to have (not very gospel related, but at least I got to form a connection with him…) Then, I made me and Balls some burgers for dinner (which he said was “gas”). Then we went to bed.
Thursday
We went for a run in the morning (Elder Balls is a state track runner, and I’m a state champion in sleeping in, so I struggle to keep up at times…) Today wasn’t too crazy.. We went tracting and got a few people who were interested! We also taught a lesson to a guy with the hermanas! The guy had 3 dogs, who supposedly can (and has) bite people’s faces off. Yikes.. As scary as the dogs were though, he seemed very open to having gospel discussions with us, so we’ll be back!
Friday
We taught a 2-hr lesson to a guy named Jason and his wife, Evalina. We basically covered all the lessons, and Evalina made us sandwiches! We also might be back to help Jason install an AC mini-splitter in his house at some point… We also met with a media referral named Yvette. Her sister was transgender and kinda started bashing us and asking about our beliefs about transgender people, but we just said that we love her and accept her and she’s always welcome to church. And she liked that answer! So that’s a relief. She also asked if I have a brother… (presumably to date??) to which I laughed it off (sorry Caleb! 😆 jkjk) But Yvette wanted to meet again, and she seemed genuinely interested! Then we had dinner with the Gibson’s. They were super nice, and provided me with my first Mexican food in Tucson, some burritos! We also played Flip 7 with them and I showed them some magic.
Saturday
We met with Yvette, who we put on date for baptism! She was really happy and excited and started crying (in a good way i hope) when we told her about the gospel and that God loves her, and you could just tell the spirit was there. We also met with Nathan later and went over the restoration with him. Then we had dinner with the Goodall’s, which is a REALLY fun family. They had 4 kids and they were all talkative and fun to talk to! The youngest girl, McKinsey, made me a bracelet! (Shown in the picture below) Then, we met with Danny with Brother Macy and talked about Lehi’s vision. Thennnn Elder Balls’s tire popped and so we walked home.
Sunday
Church! Yvette sadly didnt come to church (she accidentally slept in…), but Nathan did! Nothing crazy interesting happened, but Nathan is getting wayyy better! We taught him about the word of wisdom and some other stuff about the restoration, and we’re hoping to get him baptized soon! We also did some weekly planning, and then had dinner with the Leigh’s! They’re a pretty young family, and Brother Leigh is a software developer kind of like me! So we nerded out a lottt about that. They gave us pizza, and I ate wayyyy more than I should HAHA 😭
Monday
‼️ MIRACLE DAY ‼️
We met with a girl named Esther in the morning, and she had the CRAZIEST miracles happen in her life. Apparently we came at just the right time, because she had been searching all her life for a church to go to, and she had just started to see God’s love in her life. Also, cause her name was Esther, I shared a scripture from Esther (Esther 4:16) and talked about having faith over fear. We invited her to get baptized on Sept 5th, so now we’re completely lined up with baptisms for the next few weeks… awesome!! And then I got absolutely BAPTIZED IN THE RAIN!! (No not literally baptized.) But i looked like I had been. It was my first monsoon… and it was a LOT of rain. And nonstop. Andddd we were biking in it. I got so soaked. It sucked, but at least it cooled us off a little! We then got some costa vida enchiladas and I showed some cops a magic trick and talked to them.
TLDR
Anyways, things are going pretty well! Its hot and we’re on bikes, but at least i can make better food here in the field. We put 3 people on baptism in the first week!! And we have 18 more lessons coming up in the next week… super excited! See you next week!
Elder Andrew Hyun
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