We confirmed all four of the sisters. But none of the others shined as brightly as Sister Smithfield. The rest of them were also less controversial than Sister Smithfield and just asked the District Leader, Elder Baker, to confirm them.
We didn't have to wait long after the Sisters were confirmed to know what we were going to do next. But in the meantime, the sisters were ooing and ahhing over the new display, checking it all out.
"It's SO COOL! GOD IS SO REAL." One of them said.
But it was another voice that I was listening to with baited breath.
"Yes? Okay. Alright. Will do." He snorted, then chuckled. "Love you too. Bye."
It was Elder Baker, he was on the phone with one of the Zone leaders.
Yep, just like how I have a companion, the Zone leader has a companion, and they are both Zone leaders. For some reason, the districts usually only have one leader, and so the district leader, Elder Baker, had a normal missionary for his companion, Elder Crittenden.
"Alright everyone, you all know I was on the phone with the Zone leaders and they had a message for me to deliver to you guys, just so you know how this works, the General Authorities has suggested to the Mission president that we start to utilize this display as a new and effective tool for teaching people and doing our missionary work. Yes, the missionary work will continue, despite the traumatic events. If you have any problems about that, you can talk to me about them, and I'll pass you onto the Zone leaders if I can't satisfy your concern, in which they will also pass you on to the Assistants to the President to see if they can't help you. We can't have every missionary that wants to go home calling President Michaels at the same time, he is very busy. So talk with me after this announcement and hopefully we can figure everything else out." Elder Baker took a deep breath.
"So, onto the next announcement, along with this new tool for teaching, all our leaders can directly assign us quests, but usually, they will pass on the quests to each leader who will then be able to discern more personally if the quest is fitting, and modify it to each individuals needs. So if that was confusing, how it usually will work for example lets say the President Michaels has a quest he wants to assign every missionary, rather than spending so much time worrying about the details, he will pass the quest on to the Assistants, who will configure the quest for each zone and then they will pass it onto the Zone Leaders who will configure each quest for the districts, and then they will pass it onto the District leaders, or in other words, me. And just like this--" He tapped on his display.
- Quest Received.
- Find and Gather the Active Members in your area.
"I can approve the quest and send them to you guys after I configure each quest to be more personal for each companionship."
Wow that was pretty cool. The Church has this whole thing down.
"So thanks to this new feature, I don't have to tell you what this quest means. You can tap on it and it will give you all the details included by the Mission President, Assistants, Zone Leaders and I." Then he added, "Sometimes the quests don't need much modification though, like this one which is why I just pushed it out."
I tapped on the quest.
- Use your area tools to locate the members in your given area and bring them and any salvageable supplies back to your designated meeting spot chosen by your district leader.
"Oh. I guess I could change that to be a little more precise. Forgive me I'm new at this."
Elder Baker typed on his screen and then tapped it and the quest suddenly updated.
- Additional Quest information updated.
- Guys, use the Tools app on your phone to find all the active members first and bring them back to the crumbled church, we are going to clean the church up and sleep here until we get more direction or information. Be back by 10:00. So if you can't get to your area before then, just stay and help clean up.
I read the updated quest and I couldn't help but worry. What about those creatures out there? the ones on fire? What if the earth quakes come again? What if all the members are dead?
I felt a pit in my stomach at that thought. Suddenly the Riley family came to my mind, they were awesome. They would feed us every Sunday. They were a couple with a 16 and 17 year old and two younger children.
I looked at my watch. It was 7 P.M.
Elder Pachu nudged me, "We should probably head out. We can get at least three families who all live pretty close to each other." He had his phone out on the maps and was showing me with thick pinched fingers the three blue dots on the map that were close together."
Before either of us said anything, the phone's 20% battery warning popped up.
Then we both met eyes.
That's not a good sign, I thought.
We both walked up to Elder Baker, to get his advice on our concern.
He was on the other side of the parking lot speaking quietly with Elder Samuels.
"I don't know if I can stay. Everything is just going too crazy. I want to go home and make sure my family is safe and can get by with me there."
"I understand your concern. Have you prayed about it? Maybe if you stay, God will take care of them better than if you go back. But I don't know. Maybe he wants you to go back. I think you should pray about it."
Elder Samuels was shaking a little bit and wiped some tears from his eyes. "I don't know if I can do this. Whatever he needs us to do here. It's too much for me."
Elder Baker gave Elder Samuels a hug. "I'll get you on the phone with the Zone leaders."
Once Elder Baker gave him the phone, he turned to face us.
"Sorry about that, what do you guys need?"
"Uhhh." Elder Pachu showed Elder Baker the phone.
"Nice! three families are all within reach and right by each other!? You guys should head out now!"
"Well, that's not the problem. His battery is going to die soon." I said.
"Oh. Well then just use yours."
"Yes, but what happens when his dies?" Elder Pachu prodded.
"Ohh." Elder Baker scrunched his face and started rubbing his babyface chin.
There was an extended pause before he spoke.
"I'm not really sure. I'll contact the Zone Leaders once Elder Samuels is done. For now, I think you guys should just head out. Make sure you have enough battery to make it back, even if it means coming back emptyhanded."
We nodded then set out unlocking our bikes and slinging on our side-bags. I put on my helmet and looked at Elder Pachu who was inspecting his front tire rubbing his not so babyface chin.
"Oh no. Don't tell me."
"I'm afraid so. But like they taught me in Boyscouts. BE PREPARED." Elder Pachu pulled out a tire replacement kit from his bag.
"Bro-- I mean Elder, you have been carrying that with you this entire month?"
The box with the new tire was bigger than the bible, it was as if you stacked the Bible, the Book of Mormon, The Doctrine and Covenants, and the Pearl of Great Price into a single book. What we called the "Quad."
He smiled then flexed his left arm and put his right hand on his large bicep. "Like they say back home, Ko e toki fakafoki mo e hala fakamui. It means to be prepared."
"Oh wow. You just wanted to flex your Tongan Heritage."
He smiled at me, his wheel was already off and he was replacing the tire like a mad man with his cycling helmet on.
"I can tell you've done this before."
"Once or twice. Perhaps you will too." He winked.
He got out the pump and pumped the tire. "Alright! lets head out."
I looked at my watch. It was 7:42 P.M. I sighed
We got this.
We set out.
--
Most parts of the road were normal. Some parts had fallen trees and other parts were split in half. Occasionally there would be a bump where we had to get off our bike and walk the bike up the disturbed ground.
I was looking at the thick smoke billowing in the skies all around in the evening sun. Then I looked at a house set on fire with a little creature just moaning and walking around. I started to feel a chill going through my bones.
"Elder! Look at me! I bet you can't do this." A voice yelled through the slight breeze.
We were biking pretty fast and I looked over to see Elder Pachu with his arms folded and he was standing and peddling at the same time without using his hands. He looked ridiculous. But I knew that what he was doing required some mad muscle in your thighs and core.
The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.
I tried to copy him but the best I got was peddling without hands, I wasn't strong enough to lift my butt off the seat.
Suddenly Elder Pachu sat back down and stopped his bike. I followed suit.
"Elder I just had the strongest feeling."
I rolled my eyes. Elder Pachu always gets these feelings giving him guidance.
I can't tell yet if they are feelings from the spirit, or if he is just making it up.
But I took it seriously. When a missionary says he feels something, you better listen. It's just one of those things I was taught in the MTC--Missionary Training Center--before they sent me out to Texas.
"Let's chain our bikes to that stop sign." I said, worried someone would steal my bike in this tumultuous time.
"Yeah yeah." He said. Then he stopped. "No Elder, leave it. We don't have time." He shook his head. And then dropped his bike. And booked it into a thick of some trees.
My jaw dropped. I had never seen Elder Pachu disrespect his bike. It was like his baby.
I followed suit dropping my bike and ran after him.
In my mind I was remembering the videos I saw in the MTC, telling me about all the perils that could happen when we get separated from our companion. "Stay within sight and sound." They would say, over and over again." They would say "Satan is out to get you. Do not leave your companion."
I ran after him yelling "Elder Pachu! Wait up!"
I came around the tree's and saw Elder Pachu staunching the blood flow on an unconscious young girl.
"Elder. Get over here. I need you to help me give a blessing. Pull out the consecrated oil."
I quickly pulled off my bag and opened the pouch where I kept my small metal vial of consecrated olive oil-if you've ever heard of holy water, this is something similar.
A voice came from behind me. "Give me the girl. And I'll let you guys go."
Mentally it felt like I had just been stabbed, hearing those words caught me so off guard that I dropped the vial of oil.
"Elder, I-I think you need to say the blessing alone this time. Someone's here."
Elder Pachu looked behind me real quick then refocused on the girl and started muttering a blessing of healing under his breath.
I turned around but I saw nobody.
Which confused me. I was caught off guard by this whole situation. Despite all the bad things you hear happen to a missionary, I was pretty fresh, and had been told that muggings don't happen too often if you are careful.
I was shaking, looking around for the voice. But all I saw was darkness.
And then I realized it wasn't darkness from the sun setting or because we were under some thick brush of trees. This looked like a tangible mist of staticky darkness. All around me five feet out.
I wondered if I was grasping the situation. Was a devil talking to me? Or was there an actual thug out there that wanted the girl.
"I'm sorry, but she's not mine to give, and I wouldn't even if you had a gun to my head." I managed to say. The adrenaline was starting to course through my veins and a strange unstable confidence had found itself within me.
"In the name of Jesus Christ Amen." I heard Elder Pachu say as he lifted his hands off of the girl's head.
He got up and stood beside me.
But as he ended the blessing, the darkness dispersed, and I heard a small distant chuckling. And the darkness fully withdrew.
I was shaking looking at Elder Pachu. "Did you see that?"
"No, I heard something, but I was too focused on the girl. What happened?"
"There was a voice. And then there was darkness. And I refused the darkness, and when you finished the blessing, it went away kinda chuckling as if it wasn't done with us."
Elder Pachu looked at me, with a raised eyebrow. "Really? Well, Look at the girl. You might recognize her. I've never given a blessing before where the wound healed so quickly. I had always believed it was possible, but never prevalent until today. And I just knew that if I should say 'it would be healed,' that it would be so."
I looked at the girl. Still shaken up by the whole experience. There was blood stains on her clothes, wet blood on her skin, but the wound that Elder Pachu had been staunching the flow to, was gone. No mark of a scar even.
"Is that... Really? Perhaps that feeling you felt was from the spirit after all Elder Pachu! I patted his back." Nodding at him and smiling. Before us, laying on the ground was the 14 year old girl from the Riley family, one of the two younger children.
I suddenly wanted to go searching for perhaps the other one. But I stayed with Elder Pachu.
"We should get our bikes before someone steals them." I said.
I looked at my phone. It was 8:44 P.M.
"Relax Elder. Nobody is going to steal them. It's so rural out here that I doubt there is anyone to steal them." He emphasized the word to, as if what I was saying was ridiculous.
"Whatever. I don't want to have to walk back."
"Actually Elder, I think we should take her back. We will have to carry her too, this isn't even close to where she lives. I doubt her family is nearby."
I groaned. I had not thought of the implication of bringing people back meant I would have to walk back, no less, carry an unconscious fourteen year old while lugging my bike.
While walking back, I got pretty bored so I opened my stat menu to see if there were any changes. We had figured out a long time ago that it would open and close with our thoughts. But it was hard to describe. It wasn't something I thought, but more something I just did. Like the difference between thinking about moving your arm. And actually just moving it. Opening the menu was just like that. I had to just literally open it with my mind. The weirder thing was that it felt so natural, like I was stretching a long time unused limb whenever I opened it.
^The Holy Ghost^
Elder Todd - Level: 1
--Titles--
- Son of God -
- Disciple of Christ -
- Child of the Covenant -
- Tribe of Ephraim -
- Elder -
- Companion -
--Stats--
Faith : 6
Hope : 2
Charity and Love : 1
Virtue : 3 + 1, 4
Knowledge : 4
Patience : 4
Humility : 0
Diligence : 1
^Obedience : 4 + 2, 6^
The differences I noticed, was that virtue had gone up from 3 to 4, and obedience went up from 4 to 6. It was awesome! I was getting better! Also the menu seemed to show me recent improvements now.
When I checked Elder Pachu's stats, his had gone up even more drastically.
^The Holy Ghost^
Elder Pachu - Level: 43
--Titles--
- Son of God -
- Disciple of Christ -
- Child of the Covenant -
- Tribe of Ephraim -
- Elder -
- Trainer -
- Companion -
--Stats--
Faith : 50 + 20, 70
Hope : 49
Charity and Love : 87
Virtue : 63 + 1, 64
Knowledge : 14
Patience : 6
Humility : 94
Diligence : 200
^Obedience : 201 + 31, 232^
This was dumb. His stats had gone up from faith at 50, to 70 and 201 to 232. He was making leaps and bounds while I was simply crawling. This is unjust. I had just had an encounter with the devil, while he had just healed a girl. Why did he get more improvements than me?
I grumbled. Then closed the window by tapping the X at the corner of the screen. What do these points even mean anyways. It's not like they are actually affecting us or changing us like a character in a videogame. Instead its like my growth is being reflected here and being kept track of.
Eventually we arrived at the church, it was 10:04 P.M. Our District Leader had called us at 9:50 P.M. to check in on us and remind us to be heading home.
Once we arrived, the Sister missionaries swarmed us and took the still unconscious girl over to lay on some softer fabric they had found.
Everyone was winding down and getting prepared to sleep. I could see some Elders and Sisters in their own respective spots rolling out whatever bedding we had accumulated, kneeling down and saying their nightly prayer.
Once I was done, and my companion was done too we both laid down. On our respective makeshift bedrolls.
I looked over at the members some of the other Elders had gathered. They had brought atleast 10 adults in total and 15 children in varying ages. From what I had heard, they had helped a lot with organizing and setting up everyone's places and allocating the gathered stuff to each individual.
I looked into the horizon.
In Texas, there are no mountains. It is flat, unlike Utah. And here, I saw a burning horizon, the fire everywhere lit up the horizons in the distance in the night. Somehow there didn't seem to be any flame-ball creatures around here. Which was lucky.
Luck? Hah. God probably had a hand in that. I thought.
I tried to sleep, looking at my watch, it was 2 A.M.
Elder Pachu was tossing and turning too. The crickets and cicadas were buzzing like the world was gonna end any second. It was so loud.
"Elder Pachu. I can't sleep. I didn't even get to brush my teeth." I whispered.
He turned over and glanced at me. "Shhh."
I rolled my eyes.
"Also I can't believe what has happened still. Like I feel like I'm going to go to sleep and wake up and tomorrow it was all just a dream."
He responded this time. "Yeah. Those little fire monsters are going to haunt me in any sleep I get tonight. I can't believe Elder Baker was chased by a big one, I would have nightmares forever about that."
"What do you think is going to happen? Something different is going on. Monsters? A devil appearing in a forest? This level up program thing? At first I thought it was just a bad earthquake. But something real is going down."
Just then, I got an alert, and so did Elder Pachu because his screen popped up in front of his face. Looking around, all the awake missionaries received it.
- Urgent: New Quest Received.
- ELDER TODD, YOUR MISSION HAS BEEN EXTENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. JESUS IS COMING SOON, PREPARE THE WORLD FOR HIM. SERVE OTHERS, SLAY MONSTERS, SHARE THE GOSPEL, LEVEL UP, MOST IMPORTANTLY, KEEP THE CHURCH TOGETHER AND HELP THE MEMBERS STAY ALIVE BY DESTROYING THE DEVILS DUNGEONS.
- Signed, The First Presidency of The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
- Do you accept your extended calling? Yes/No.