Gay devo

 1-30-23

Ok it was a good week.

I wanted to focus this email on an experience I actually had yesterday for two reasons:

I haven't felt the spirit like that in a super long time

Not much else actually happened this week

So yesterday me and Elder Rigby had a our day planned and out of nowhere we got a text from the ASL branch president, President Peterson explains that there was a group of members that wanted to go up the Oakland temple auditorium to attend a devotional- so they wanted us to interpret. So we threw all out plans away and moved dinner earlier, we got permission from President to leave the mission and we headed out.

(Real quick- at the dinner we got to ride in the "Rivian" apparently it's a really big deal or something. He went from like 0-72 in like 4 seconds. I felt all the fluids in my ears and stuff hit the back of my head it was like a rocket ship)

We got there and I had no clue what to expect and then they introduced the speaker and mentioned he was the "Gay Latter-Day Saint" Ben Schilaty.

This was like, the best Devotional I've ever attended. He shared so many stories that were just so real and full of emotion. He is such a pure example of exactly what members should be. He taught pure doctrine and it was just SOOO GOOD.

Now, I've had a few friends who have SSA feelings and It's been an adventure to learn more about their story and learn how I can be an ally. It's really a scary kind of topic because of all the things the world tells us about SSA and LGBTQ stuff. There's so many different opinions and feelings and ideas going around and it's hard to discuss while holding onto doctrine and love.

But, Ben Schialty did it perfectly. He shared a story about the first time he ever came out to somebody. It was his two best friends from college and one was his roommate. He could feel the spirit telling him to come out and he knew that the situation had happened just right for him to tell them

So he did.

One of the friends asked a bunch of good questions and the other one sat in silence. So Ben was feeling scared and asked him like "what's going on…? I understand if you dint want to be roommates any more…."

And his friend was like "what?! No! You're still the same guy! I'll always be here for you no matter what!"

When people come out or really tell us any struggle or trial they have we have to react with love and consider how hard this really is for them. 

I reflected back on when I was struggling with an addiction to pornography and how different people responded when I told them. My dad asked lots of good questions and asked how he could help. I remember not really knowing how he could help at the time and my dad was ok with that. He didn't treat me any differently and we still did all the things we did before. There were some friends I told about it and my confidence in telling them gave them the courage to tell me and other people as well. They all responded with love and that's what was most important at the time. 

The absolute best example was when I told my Bishop. Bishop Griffith immediately turned to his worn and super marked scriptures and started reading and testifying of the love Jesus has for me. He taught me about repentance and commended me for having the courage to tell him. 

So basically, if somebody loves you and trusts you enough to tell you something you gadda react with love.

The other thing he was saying was about the church needs to be welcoming of everybody(including every type of LGBTQ+) everybody should feel welcome in our church-nobody should ever feel unwelcome.

Please please don't ever be the reason somebody doesn't want to come to church.

He told a story about a Sunday school teacher who told him that he really shouldn't be talking about being Gay in church. And he was walking out of the church like 'You know what? I don't wanna come here next week!' Luckily by the next Sunday he had decided to come back. 

That's not always what happens though.

So, do all you can to make everybody no matter what feel welcome in our churches. Please. 

P.S.

I do have a recording of most of the devo. If you want it  lemme know.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

Poopoo mud

 1-23

Well.

It was transfers. Elder White is gone. Now the ASL program is Elder Rigby who is really good at ASL and me. . .So that's been fun. I definitely get more turns to talk in lessons. I didn't realize how much participation I was losing just by being in a trio. It feels good to be teaching more now. 

We also lost one of our areas, new companionship came up and they have it now. So now we just have ASL (all of northern California) and one English ward (a decent chunk of Fremont). We have zero progressing people in English, so this week we went around knocking doors and trying to talk to as many people as possible. We'll see what happens.

One of the guys we talked to was an Interesting man from some other country and he recognized us as missionaries instantly and he was like "I already have the book" Then he told his wife to go get it and were just like . Then sure enough he has a Book of Mormon. He shows us the front and there's a few passages written down for him to read, all the missionary classics, then two Elders names and their phone number. So we ask him about it and he explains that he got it back in 2008! And he has always felt a special connection to it. He said he's moved several times and has always taken it with him. But! He very clearly told us he doesn't want us to come back and he already believes in everything so he doesn't need us to teach him more. So that kinda hurt. Like- he's so close. He just won't accept it. Silly boy. 

On Saturday a large group of missionaries met at the mission office (our zone and like 2 other zones) at 8am then we got split up, thrown in vans and sent all the way up by Santa Cruz. Then until about 3:00 we shoveled dirt and mud from all the flooding out of and away from people's homes. It was absolutely shocking how much there was. It was everywhere and like a foot and a bit deep, maybe 2 feet of mud in some places. 

An elephant is what? Like 2-5 tons? Our group probably moved about 2 and a bit tons of mud. (Which was 4 people) idk, Maybe more than 2 tons? It was alot.

It was fun and also one of the hardest labors I've done. It was all still so wet- so it was super heavy. It also all smelled like poo-poo because of sewers flooding as well so it was poo-mud. I tried to lift with my legs lol. Now I have a testimony of how important proper body mechanics are…I'm pretty sore. 

Anyways. I got to see Elder Taufer, my MTC brother. It was wonderful to catch up and hug him again. 

On Sunday in ASL church I said the opening prayer and also got to bless the water for sacrament. That was pretty tough and scary. But apparently I did ok. Then we had some guy (hearing) give a talk, Elder Rigby interpreted. His talk was word for word “ put on thy strength o zion” from the last general conference. He read it like it was his own talk. I pulled it out on my phone and followed along with him. There were like 3 times he skipped a word or replaced it with a synonym. It was really funny but also frustrating. I don't think he would have done that if it were a hearing ward. I’ve been to his house for dinner before and can tell he doesn't have great feelings about deaf people. This man probably postponed preparing for his talk till Sunday morning and then just printed out one he liked from conference. Idk. It’s a great talk. “Many are called but few are chosen. . .wherefore all do not have on the wedding garment” 

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

Stop watching soccer

 1-16-23

Ok. Well that's it. The transfer is over. I've been ASL for a whole transfer. 

Imma be honest- this week kinda sucked. On Tuesday we had our zone and district council, I had to give a training on testifying about the Book of Mormon- which is literally one of my favorite orite things to do. It actually went really well, I just really don't like giving trainings lol. 

There's a document called "the fourth missionary" and we've been studying g it together in companionship study for a while, we finished it this week. It talks about the best way to serve a mission and all the things that set missionaries apart. Why some missionaries have awful missions and others have a life-changing incredible mission. The 4th missionary is the missionary who gives his will to God. I want to be that missionary and I've been thinking alot about what that all would look like. What areas I'm already 4th in and other areas that need some work. It's been brutally eye- opening.

I'll throw a link on the email if you want to look at it. 

Anyways. I hit my 6-month mark on January 11th. That was kinda cool. 

I'm not sure what's been going on, buy I've just been in a bad mood for the most part of every day this week. I know a few things contributing to it is that I am discouraged about learning ASL, it's really frustrating sometimes, also sometimes my companions treat me like I'm a brand new missionary. I can't stand condescending stuff like that. Also, Elder White is being transferred and that's always tough. Everything kinda crashed and crumbled on Saturday. We were in the middle of personal study time and I was already having a bad morning. We got a VP (video call) and all put our black sleeved jackets on and went to answer it. It was a member of the ASL branch I'd never met before- which means she'd also never met me.so she started asking me a bunch of questions and I was doing alright until suddenly she asked a question and I had no clue what it was. I looked to my comps for help and they ignored me. I asked her to sign it again. She did and I still was clueless. So I asked my comps if what I was thinking she asked was right. They're just like ok then a sign back to her. 

She asked more questions and I still had no clue. The call ended and I got up and went straight back to my desk before my comps could even get up from their chairs. Luckily I'm In a corner, so I faced into the corner and put my head down a bit and for the first time in a while I just cried. Like, alot. I got tears all over the papers I was reading which made me even more upset. 

So that's the kind of week it's been. Then guess what. 

We had stake conference this weekend. Which means we had to Interpret. Stake conference really was wonderful. They only made me do the prayers. Which was really hard. The good thing about prayers is that your eyes are closed so you can't see all the people looking at you like "what the heck is he trying to say?" 

We also went to a funeral and it was cool to get to know somebody so well without ever getting to really meet her. 

It's been raining like absolute crazy here. 

Ok, at stake conference I was sitting near this guy and his wife. (I was trying to focus on the ASL interpretations of the talks, but didn't do very good at that) at first I saw them kinda holding each other and I was like- dang, in a few years that's gonna be me and my wife. Turns out I was mega wrong.

I looked over again and saw them focusing all their attention in a hymn book. That was really confusing. Hymns are cool and all but not THAT cool. I look over again and of course there's a phone hidden in the hymnbook with a soccer game playing. 

I was pretty upset. This guy was causing himself and his wife to miss out on the incredible blessings that come from paying attention to stake conference talks. We got to hear from all 3 members of the stake presidency, and a member of the temple presidency and his wife! That does not happen often! It was a really special opportunity and he said "no thanks, soccer is good" 

It got me thinking, what soccer games do I have playing in the background of my life that are taking my attention away from special gifts and experiences Heavenly Father is trying to give me? One really significant thing about this is that the couple had dressed up in their nice Sunday clothes, they drove to the stake center and they WERE THERE! They were in the meeting! 

How many missionaries go to their missionary and serve the full two years but are just "watching soccer" the whole time? 

How often do we go to church and partake of the sacrament with "soccer games" still playing in our minds?

Sometimes from the outside it looks like we're doing exactly what we're supposed to be doing when really- we're not. 

Idk if that makes any sense.

Anyways.

Love you all. Have an incredible week. I will try to do the same, lol. 

Photos:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7

The fourth missionary:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1-5RGTOWBedlAIfF57yQsIqGPdhHa9tGP/view?usp=drivesdk

Appendix...? What's Appendix with you?

 

This has been the craziest, most ridiculous week I've had in my whole mission. And top 10 most ridiculous craziest in my entire life.

It was like a really big somewhat round rock pushed off the edge of a huge mountain (like the ones in Tooele by the one with T on it- but from the very top) because it was hard to get the week moving at first and once it started going it just kept on going and going.

So- this starts last week- p- day ends at 6:00 and we all get our stuff ready to head out and work and one of my comps( because I have 2) Elder Rigby says "how are you guys feeling?"

And we're like "...good…?" 

He explains he's been having an awful belly ache and was wondering how we're doing to see if it was something we ate…

His pain gets worse and worse and worse and he's like "yup. I have appendicitis"

You must understand who elder Rigby is first though. He is willing to do whatever it takes to be Obedient to the mission rules. He is incredibly consecrated. He is exactly what mothers hope their sons will become on the mission (for the most part)

So- we have 2 lessons left and Elder Rigby is in the worst pain he's ever been in his life (and he's had a hernia) and he's like- we have to do these first….then we'll go yo the emergency room.

So luckily the lessons fall through and we call the mission president and mission nurse and they tell us to go to the ER. 

And yup- appendicitis.

So me and Elder White sit out in the car for a few hours waiting to find out what the plan is. 

After a while Elder White heads in and then…I was all alone in the car for like an hour.

It's very late (like 11:30) it's dark, it's raining, and I'm just alone…as a missionary you are never ever alone like that. And it was kinda scary and unsettling. 

So- I grabbed a Book of Mormon and a pen and wrote my testimony into the front blank pages.

 Elder white comes back out and basically they have to watch him for a bit. 

They ended up doing g the surgery later on Tuesday

We took him home early on Wednesday 

And he refuses to acknowledge any pain he's In. He just keeps on doing the work and pushing through it all. Which is great! But also kinda bad. He literally won't let us help him and we can tell he's in pain but he always says he's doing great.

So that happened. 

The other really hard part about this week has been that I'm finding my problems and struggles. And I wish I didn't have to deal with them.

I have a really hard time whenever I get corrected on a sign. Which is too bad because I mess up on signs alot. Whenever we're at ASL church or singing at home I usually mess up at least one time and when they stop and show me the right way I just get so upset. 

But it makes sense- of course I'm gonna mess up. It's been 4 weeks? 1 month of learning ASL? No way I'm already perfect.

I think we tend to do that alot with other things too. Whenever we receive corrections we like to get defensive and upset. But it literally doesn't make sense. Even if somebody corrects us in a rude way- technically it's still helpful information. I wish I could choose to treasure constructive criticism. I know that if I did I would excel so much faster. I'm going to work on that.

Ok. Sorry. I'm outta time and I can't think of much else to write. I'll do better next week lol.

Read the Book of Mormon every day.

-Elder Owens

God answers prayers...sometimes with Gas Leaks I guess

 1-2-23

Well

That video I brought up like 2 weeks ago- I finally got a good recording so it's posted. Sorry if you don't know ASL you probably won't know what it says at all lol. 

This week started with a covid scare! 

Background: in the Deaf World there's this thing called "Tactile Interpreting" it's also in the Blind world. Basically, people who are Deaf and blind can't hear or see so the best way to communicate with them is through Tactile ASL. We have two blind and Deaf members and during church or when you want to talk to them you sit next to them and they'll put their hands over yours and you just start signing- that's their language. It's probably one of the coolest things ever. And one of them, Indiana, is absolutely incredible. She's really funny and incredibly smart. It's amazing how functioning she really is even though she can't see or hear. 

(I say that because after we told one member about Tactile he asked "Then what's the point of her life?". Their life is just as wonderful as ours, they've been given quite the trial but still do sooo amazing incredible with it)

Anyways. Indiana tested positive for Covid. And our hands are all over hers during church. So we basically assumed we had COVID. We decided we were gonna have an English fast during the entirety of our quarantine. So I was excited for that cuz I knew it'd help me soooo much. 

But- no positive tests. Kind of a relief. But a disappointment too…

This week it rained a lot. There's a video in the photo album of a car basically stuck in a puddle. We had roads closed due to flooding. It's incredible how much water can actually come out of the sky. And guess what? We were out knocking doors and teaching people through most of it. On Friday, the worst of the rain, we actually legit could not do anything because of how bad the rain was. So we had to sit in a church building and just do calls for a few hours!

On Sunday morning I walked Into the study room and started playing solitaire and a ant crawled over one of my cards. I squished it with a pencil and tapped it into the trash. Then I saw another one by my scriptures. Then another one on the wall. And another and another. I look under my desk and BOOM.

There's a clear line of pure ants from the window to the ground. PURE ANTS.

So I'm like "uhh. There's ants."

So for the next while we're vacuuming up ants and spraying WD-40 wherever we think they could be coming from. We come back in a few minutes and there's a fresh line of pure ants. 

So we have the vacuum right there. Once it gets thick enough we suck them up. 

Oh! On Wednesday we got a text from President Peterson (the deaf branch president) asking if Elder Owens could give a talk on Sunday so they told him yes. And I have the most mega heart sinking ever.

Give a talk….in ASL? My ASL is like…not.

How am I gonna give a talk? So I just start writing over and I've trying to only use words and ideas I can do in ASL and as I'm reading over each time I'm like "...I have no clue how to say that"

So basically the stress for the talk got so bad I had trouble sleeping and was just thinking about leaving the ASL program and trying to get back into English. But Elder White and Elder Rigby helped me alot and I ended up with a finished Product that was probably going to be ok.

Then we were sitting in our first ward and we get a text from a few people telling us there was a Gas Leak at the building the deaf branch meets at! Yay! (Nothing bad happened to anybody) so church was canceled! 

So I didn't have to give my talk! God works in mysterious ways. 

I still recorded it at home and sent it out.

Well

That's all the stuff that matters! 

I recently got back into the habit of flossing and my mouth just feels so much better. I don't know why I lost that habit in the first place. 

As we start the new year I want you all to think about what habits you may have lost and would like to get back. And don't just think about it, actually do something about it. 

Tell somebody your plan, set reminders in your phone, put a sticky note up, do it! 

It could be that wonderful habit you had of reading the Book of Mormon every day back on your mission or back in seminary, maybe it's making your bed every morning like you did back in elementary school days. Or maybe it's flossing. 

Happy New Year! Have a good year!

-Elder Owen

https://photos.app.goo.gl/DYM8hzqfMfgxUFWZ7