Mason's Mission: November 2023

Un Misionero con un compañero enfermo

Day: it's Christmas time!

Pushup Count: 178

Well, it was bound to happen eventually. I think I was overdue for a sick companion, seeing as how most of my missionary friends have had that by now. Elder Ireland had been feeling off for a couple days, so he took a quick covid test, because we knew that the doctor would ask if he had. Unfortunately, that ¨quick test¨ came back so positive that it wouldn't let us leave the house. However, good things are still happening!

- We had a baptism in our ward! The other Elders baptized a family of three and they're all so excited

- I played the piano at the baptism because it's a Spanish ward so no one else knows how

- We went to raising cane's after the baptism and I forgot my card

- The Hermanas stole our Thanksgiving dinner, but the ward assigned us a different one

- I ate turkey and tacos for Thanksgiving (I love latinos!)

- Elder Ireland got Covid, but we had to go to the church for a meeting, so we just quarantined there for literally 10 hours

- I arranged the music for a music video we're producing while shut up in the church

- We went to go teach a lesson, but the dude came out and told us that he had just been robbed, that the cops were on their way, and that we should leave immediately, so that was fun

- I've been put in charge of recording the music for this video we're making, so I've spent a lot of time setting up the computer and it's kinda weird to be using production skills on the mission

- Unfortunately we kinda forgot about a pickup lesson we had in the park, and when we showed up he was gone. BUT *miracle* he ran into the other Elders on his way home and they were able to give him the church info. We also had a lesson with him over the phone last night

- I did some big time cleaning yesterday and organized the entire kitchen. I found a bunch of Chick-fil-A sauce exploded in the back of the fridge

- We went to the park and recorded a new video for my Facebook - easier than last time but still had to settle

Basically, it's been a slow week, but we've been able to get a ton of SA work done. I miss and love you all, keep sending those emails :)

Spiritual Thought

I watched a super cool video about Christ and the creation this week called "We Lived With God". It's on the church website and I invite all y'all to go watch it!

Love

Élder Page

Fotos

my daily desayuno (breakfast)

cane's

My quad

Un misionero el la oficina

Day: lunes! (cause I'm in a Spanish area now )

Pushup Count: 172

Hola mi gente! Como están? This week has been crazy busy, which unfortunately means that my journaling lacked a little bit. But I'll try to remember as much as I can. Highlights:

- Zone conferences! Being companions with the SA lead means that you go on exchanges while he presents at every ZC - not super fun

- I sorted through about a thousand Google drive files (not exaggerating) and completely reorganized our mission social media folders

- We had the boldest lesson ever where my comp literally asked our friend why she won't just get baptized tomorrow

- We went to the mall for pday last week and that was a trip for sure

- Our district leader got hit by a car (he's totally fine)

- The air quality was so bad that the mission made us wear crazy masks

- We had to cover 3 areas on exchanges - I thought I was organized but holy cow that's tough

- I watched a stranger do a pushup with my DL on his back

- We're planning to make a music video for the mission FB page, and I'm super stoked to get to use my nerdy music skills

- I ate two dinners within an hour of each other

- Zone conference killed me again - one of these days I'll be able to stay awake the whole time

- I got to see my trainer again!

- We were at a member meal and the Hermana asked me if I wanted seconds. I told her "solo un poquito" and she proceeded to give me even more than the first plate. Once I forced that down, she gave us dessert, which was the most filling arroz con leche ever, and I almost exploded. It was a mental battle for real y'all

- I asked a guy if he knew any ways to work out your biceps without doing curls, and he then showed me 4 different variations of curls

- I got to play an electric guitar last night and I've literally forgotten everything... also it was locked in standard tuning so I couldn't even play the songs that I could remember

Things are going good here. Social media work is improving in the mission and my Spanish is slowly getting better. Living in a quad is so much fun and I can already tell it's gonna be super weird to leave (but we've got a long time before that ).

Spiritual Thought:

When I left the MTC I promised to read the Book of Mormon every day for the rest of my life. Since then, I've missed a couple days, so I technically already broke my promise, but that's why we have repentance, right? I notice that when I make a conscious effort to study the scriptures every day, I feel the spirit so much stronger. It makes it easier to get through the hard days and to choose the right in hard situations. I want to issue the same challenge to y'all to read the Book of Mormon every day - you'll see blessings immediately. God wants to give them to you, you just have to put in the effort. He loves you!

Love you all,

Elder Page

Foto

- Yup I literally took one picture this week the beautiful air quality in Bakes

Un Misionero al Revés

Day: 4 days since my mission restarted

Pushup Count: 166

Hola a todos! Holy cow this week has been wild. I was happily working in North Edwards, completely content and expecting another transfer there when my whole world got flipped upside down. The transfer board came out and it said that not only was I transferring, but I was going from the least populated area in the mission to the most populated area, I was headed for a Spanish WARD, and I was being put on the social media (SA) team. Highlights:

- We went to Goodwill for district activity and we found a giant dragon figurine for Joel

- I found out I was transferring to the center of Bakersfield

- Said some bittersweet goodbyes to the people of North Eddy

- I played soccer with ninos in a dirt field - now I can check that off the mission bucket list

- We drove all the way to Bakersfield, and I was immediately thrown into SA work filming departing missionary testimonies

- I live in a quad now! I feel like I have three comps and it's sick

- Literally every single visit and lesson in the last four days has been in Spanish and I'm absolutely loving it

- I've been so deprived of people for so long that I literally start smiling when I see people at the park....

- A member fed us pancakes with some kind of caramel sauce and then told us to eat healthier

- I'm so tired and I love it

- I had to leave most of my food in NE so I have a lot of shopping to do today

- I had church in Spanish! Oh my y'all have no idea how amazing it was. I was literally giddy the whole time. It was la programa de la primaria and the little niños were soooo adorable

- A member fed us some fire fajitas last night

- We spend 2-3 hours a day in the mission office working on social media stuff, organizing files, and making content for our Facebook page. It keeps us super busy and it's awesome

Spiritual Thought

First off, the gift of tongues is real. I haven't had much speaking practice on my mission, but I feel like I have a pretty good grasp of things when we start teaching. I know that that's only possible through my Heavenly Father helping me out. I still study, don't get me wrong - God requires us to put in effort - but as we try our best, He picks up the slack. He loves me, and I know he loves you too - don't forget it!

Fotos:

Just some goodbyes and a puppy in a hoodie

Note from Kevin Cordes - North Edwards Area

Sister Page,

My name is Kevin Cordes and I just wanted to thank you for sharing your son with us in the Bakersfield Mission. He has been serving in our home ward since he arrived here in the mission and we are so grateful for him. In a previous assignment I had the honor of interviewing, setting apart, and releasing missionaries. For 10 years one of my main responsibilities was to help young men and women prepare to serve the Lord as full time missionaries. I only share that to say I have a very special place in my heart for missionaries and their families, and to thank you for helping him to prepare for his mission. He is one of the best missionaries that I have ever seen. We have watched him grow in his language skills and gain confidence with experience. He is so kind and loving. My wife, Allison, and I have had two of our sons serve and we know what it is to be the parent of a missionary. He stopped by this evening to say goodbye before heading to his new area. Our family will remember Elder Page and the impact he had on our family, and I am certain that will be said by many many others. Thank you for raising such an honorable, honest, kind, loving, thoughtful, bright, happy missionary. We are better for his service. Thank you…

Un Misionero con una Amiga con Fecha

Day: Tuesday eve

Pushup Count: 160

Hola a todos! Something pretty big happened this week! If you speak Spanish, the subject line might give it away, but if not you'll have to wait till the end . Some highlights:

- Last pday we carved pumpkins

- We found a giant lizard in the church

- I politely choked down some salad a member gave us, and then almost blew it when he asked if I wanted more

- Halloween was kinda lame cause we're missionaries, but we played chess and darts and failed to make caramel apples

- "I like the soft crunchy stuff"

- We found an mx track out in the middle of nowhere

- Waxed our noses again

- We had a sick lesson with our friend Cyrius, and the member we invited prayed in sebwano (no idea how you spell that)

- I had exchanges with our DL and ate 7 pieces of pizza

- We talked to the same group of drunk people twice in the same hour

- "Ah, the weed is strong with this one"

- We got to set up a table at the farmers market

- Talked to some Jehovah's Witnesses who used to be members of our church

- We finally went to the Borax mine in our area —it's one of only two in the entire world and it's HUGE

- Daylight savings absolutely killed us — there's not a single streetlight in North Edwards

Yesterday we had a lesson with our friend Rosalinda, who had previously told us that she was waiting for God to tell her when to be baptized. We prepared a fire lesson on answers to prayers to help her make the decision, but before we even started the lesson, she told us she was ready and we put her on date right then! I didn't even realize what was happening because it was all in Spanish, but all the sudden my comp was talking about dates and I realized what she had said. It was so cool, and we're so excited for her!

Spiritual Thought

Just keep praying . We said a lot of prayers for Rosa this week and God answered them. He's not always gonna answer us in the way we want or when we want, but He will. This has still been a hard week, even with our prayers, but I know difficult things are for our good. God's never going to leave you, because he loves you!

Fotos