Missionary Journal – July 27, 1989

Day 58 of my full-time mission
Area: Layton, Utah (Layton Stake)

Boy was today a fun day. I got up at 6:30 a.m., got dressed, and then studied, ate breakfast, hemmed some pants (and did a good job), and then was off to district meeting with Elder Barnson. It sure is great to have eight elders in the district. It was a really good meeting. The zone leaders were there. Elder Dhudly is one of them, and he trained Gatlin. He asked me about him and kind of figured that he may be struggling. I told him that I enjoyed working with him, even though it was challenging.

After the meeting, we came back to the apartment and got a ride to pick up some groceries. The nearest grocery store, about five blocks south, is out of our area. But we have permission to go whenever we need to. We had lunch and then taught three kids the fourth discussion. That was interesting because they really were rowdy. A guy canceled on us for our afternoon appointment, so we read, and I eventually napped for an hour or so. Then, we had a dinner appointment over in the 11th ward. My companion wrecked his bike and wrecked the back wheel. The prong is fine, but the back rim is all cracked. It looked funny to see him ride it, and eventually he had to carry it home. All this came after an hour or so spent just trying to find a pump to inflate the back tire. The first one he used popped a hole in the pump cord, letting all the air out of his tire. So he walked it around until we found a working pump, five pumps, and many houses, and minutes later.

Dinner was great. Tonight we went out with a stake missionary, Bro. Bauer. He pretty much spoke to this guy, Robert Walty, the whole time, but I really enjoyed listening. He’s an older guy, married to a member. He doesn’t really have a desire to know if the church is true, but i think he will if he keeps reading in the Book of Mormon.

Tonight was a really neat spiritual experience for me. As I listened to Bro. Bauer, the Spirit really touched me and told me the truth of the things he was saying. You know, whenever someone mentions Jesus Christ and His sacrifice for me (for us), I start to get pretty choked up. I really love Him! I really can’t even imagine the love He has for me and all of us. If I can do one thing in life, it would be to live it as closely to His life as I can. I love the gospel of Jesus Christ!