Elder Padilla

So Elder Padilla was never my companion, but he was a great missionary. I'm not sure how we got to know each other, but we ended up becoming friends. I don't have a picture of him, so I had to take one off of his facebook...

This picture is fitting, seeing as how awesome he was as a missionary.

Anyways, one day I went with the Zone Leader, Elder McVey, to the Mt. Pocono area. We went on an exchange where he went with another missionary (I don't remember who), and I went with Elder Padilla. We ate at a member's home, and went tracting down their street.  Now, you normally don't get much success while tracting, but Elder Padilla and I couldn't be stopped. We talked to a lot of people, set up several appointments, and had a great time. 

We were approaching the end of the night and were deciding whether or not to knock on the last door because we didn't want to get home late. Well, with all the success we had we figured, "Why not?!" We should've stopped while we were ahead. The lady who answered the door was not very nice. She told us a few bad things, and then told us to leave. However, it could not dampen our spirits. The rest of the evening had gone well, and we were on our way home.

The night was creeping in and we were walking back to our car. We were already late because we decided to knock on the last house. We couldn't even see our car yet because we were so far away, but we could see a young lady with a stroller walking towards us. She turned right on a street ahead of us, and we passed by as she walked away. Here is what our conversation was like:

Elder Padilla: (looking at her longingly) Man, I wish we had time to talk to her.

Elder Vazquez: I know what you mean. But we're already running late.

Elder Padilla: (silence)

Elder Vazquez: Don't you just hate it when... Elder???

I looked behind me, and there was Elder Padilla, with his bag under his arm like a football, running after this poor lady in the dark. So I turned around and started running too. We caught up to the woman, thanked her for stopping, and apologized for scaring her. We gave our street approach, and asked her if she knew anything about the church. Surprisingly, she said she did! In fact, when she was in high school, she said she knew a member of the church. He had talked to her about the church on several occasions, and then she said he just stopped. When we asked why, she said,"I don't know. I guess he didn't think I was interested or anything, but I still wanted to learn more." We couldn't believe it! 

Moral of the story: Never assume that people don't want to learn. What we have is the greatest message there is. Jesus Christ is the Savior of the world, and He has restored HIS church to the Earth. We will come across people while we're here just so we can share this message. But we must be prepared, and have courage to open our mouths. "Be not afraid, only believe." (Mark 5:36)

Rainstorms in Pennsylvania

It's not rainstorms that I don't like, it's rainstorms as a missionary that I don't like.

I know there are a lot of people who like rainstorms. They love the booming thunder, bright flashes of lightning, and the hypnotizing sound of raindrops falling on the house. That's all fine and dandy, but when I was a missionary, all I thought was, "Man, I'm gonna get so soaked." I have several memories of me getting stuck in the rain, or having to deal with the aftermath of rain (pushing cars out of the mud, having mud and dirty water sprayed on you from your bike tires, people purposely trying to drive in puddles to splash you, etc). Today, I'll share only one, and that's because I have a video clip of Elder Korth commenting on the rain.

That Darn Cat

Ahhh, Elder Forester. Where do I start...

Elder Forester and I served for two transfers in Bloomsburg, and had an AMAZING time! Our first transfer was a trio with Elder Mickey, the second transfer was just us two. I learned quite a bit from him. We had a lot of fun, but also did a lot of work. I have quite a few funny stories about Elder Forester, most of them embarrassing, but today I'll share a time that he taught me about the power of faith and prayer.

Our apartment had an oven; it didn't work that well. That's normally not a problem for Elders, but we were going to bake a cake (or cookies) for someone in the ward. Luckily for us, there was a wonderful sister who lived down the street from us and said we could use her kitchen while she was away. I don't remember her name, but she was a convert and used to be Jehovah's Witness.  Anyways, we got our ingredients and walked on over one day.

Well, she had warned us about her cats. We knew that they might try to escape. I promise, we were very careful. But alas, one of the slippery little devils escaped. Elder Mickey and I ran after the cat... "Where's Elder Forester?" I wondered. I turned around, and he was on his knees, saying a short prayer.  What a wonderful lesson for me that day from a humble senior companion. He knew there was no way we were going to catch the cat. The first thought for Elder Mickey and I was to try and catch it before it got too far. The first thought that Elder Forester had was to petition our Father for help.

After he finished his very short prayer, he helped us chase the cat for about two minutes. Then, Elder Forester caught the beast, and we were able to go into the house and start baking.

The Fat Kid and The Evil Elder

The Lymans and I at my Mission Farewell


The Lymans are awesome. They are a great family with a wonderful Spirit. When I served in Shippensburg, they had 5 kids. Hailey was the oldest at 10; Zeke was the youngest and still a baby. I think now they have about 8 kids, and little Hailey is getting married. It was fun spending time with the Lymans and we, as missionaries, always looked forward to eating with them whenever we had the chance. I have several stories involving the Lymans, but today I'll only share two.

One Sunday, we were scheduled to eat dinner with them. While at church I stood next to ten year old Hailey, and in jest asked, "What are you making for dinner tonight?" With a confused and somewhat worried look on her face she responded, "All I know how to make is pancakes." I assured her that missionaries loved pancakes, and told her that we'd see her later. 

I did not really expect her to make pancakes for dinner, but when we showed up, that wonderful, sweet little girl was standing over a skillet with her mom making pancakes for us. 

At the dinner table, Nathanael started telling me about a dream he had. I don't remember all of it, but I do remember that in his dream, I kidnapped him and the rest of the kids and tried to get away on a golf cart. So he said I was evil and started calling me Evil Elder.

Later, I had completely filled myself full of pancakes and was making a "I'm full" face at the table. Then out of nowhere, Hailey says, "You look like the fat kid from Matilda!" I was shocked, but my companion and everyone else started laughing. Apparently, her comment didn't sound as bad when it was in her head, because she immediately started blushing and said, "No, that's not what I mean!" The poor little thing was pretty embarrassed. 

Sister Lyman knew Hailey probably meant something else, so she tried to figure out what the thought process was before making the comment. It turns out that when I made the "I'm full" face, I puffed my cheeks out and made my eyes look droopy and tired. It was the face I made that reminded her of the fat kid from Matilda, it wasn't just me. Well, at least that's what she said. :)

The Lyman kids and I when I went back to visit the mission.

Why I'm starting the blog.

I am a horrible journal keeper. Unfortunately, I've always been a horrible journal writer, including on my mission. So this blog is hopefully going to be my way of recording some of the memories that come to my mind.

I remember my mission EVERYDAY: people, places, events, blessings, testimonies... 

Random things help me remember my time in Pennsylvania. For example, I have a student in my class who is awesome! She's got this funny, quirky personality that I love. Every time she turns in an assignment, she writes a different name. Sometimes she makes them up, but sometimes she uses names she's heard before. Last week she handed me an assignment with the name "Rita's Italian Ice" on top. I'm not sure where she got the name, but I couldn't help but think of  summertime in PA (specifically, Elder Korth and I with the Michs).

So, as I said, this blog will have random memories from times on my mission. Some may be spiritual, some won't be. They are just going to be things that come to my mind, the way that I remember them. If any of you remember them differently... please let me know. Or, if you remember something from my mission, please, please, PLEASE email me or message me somehow so that I can include it on my blog. Alright, well... let's begin!