31 December 2018

Well, I must apologize, I don't have any new pictures for this week. Or any news. Sorry. I guess that's what happens when we get to call. But, in short, we had a good Christmas. We spent it at our Branch President's house where we had a nice breakfast, called home, and just generally had a good time talking. We got to talk to Diane again this week, which was nice. She's having a lot of hard times in her life right now, so it was great to be able to introduce the plan of salvation to her. Our biggest problem is that she really likes to talk. Like, a lot. I've never seen  anyone who could talk as much before. But it's fun, and we're basically adopted grandchildren now. (As with everyone else in her neighborhood, she's genuinely one of the nicest people I've ever met.) But that's about it for this week, talk to y'all next time!

25 December 2018

Sorry this will be short nearly to the point of nonexistence, but here's a few pictures. If I have more time, I'll send more. But a pretty good Christmas call today!

Christmas Zone Conference get together

My Thor Christmas socks

The first snow Elder Martins had ever seen in Raleigh as we were headed to Raleigh... it was sad.

Santa's house in Wallace

 

 

17 Decemeber 2018

So the news is in: I'm staying in Wallace for another transfer! I get to spend Christmas over here in the Southern Kingdom, changing it up from last year. It is always interesting being a missionary during Christmas, it feels a little weird. You're slightly disconnected from everything that's Christmassy in the normal world. It still is great to be able to go out and share a message about Christ during this season though. So often people forget why we have this season, and it's great to be able to be the ones going out and reminding people of the birth and life of Christ. Also, I love the Light the World initiative even more this year. We're going into week three(light your family), and it's my favorite one of the videos.

The work over here was pretty great this last week. We got up with Dan and Sandra again, and actually got to teach them. They also gave us baliadas, so that was pretty exciting. (Baliadas are a food from Honduras, and they're delicious.) They have some problems with the idea of going to a church, but I think that they'll keep on progressing well. They certainly love having us over. 

Speaking of being fed, there's a less active from El Salvador that we found and have been trying to visit. We're now pretty sure that she won't ever return to the church, but she and her boyfriend both really like us and they made us pupusas yesterday. And taught us how to shape them. I would have pictures, but my hands were covered in oil and water. Still, they were delicious. 

We also went by to visit Diane again. It's always so much fun to talk to her. It's a little hard to teach her because she really, really loves to talk, but she's a great lady. We managed to segue into the Restoration, and she was really into it. We mentioned the gift of the Holy Ghost and she cut us off a bit and asked how that worked, because she had always been taught that you just got the Holy Ghost after you accepted Christ. So, we explained it and read out of Acts 8 with her. She got kind of quiet and sat there for a minute before saying that it went against what she had been taught her whole life, but that it felt right. She's so humble and ready to learn, it's great! 

Aside from all that, the only other thing is that two sisters in our district were dying, so we had to take death pictures for their last district council. (For anyone who needs clarification, they were not actually dying, they were finishing their missions.) But those are the only pictures I have from this week.

 

 

10 December 2018

So it's almost time for transfers again, that's  next Tuesday. I have no clue if I'll stay or leave. The other missionaries are all staying stay, but the members are guessing leave, because nobody would have stayed as long as me in over a year. The branch is doing a Christmas gift card thing for the missionaries, and one of the members said that if I leave, she's taking out the money she put in and giving straight to me. I'm conflicted between wanting to stay and leave. I'm pretty firmly a city boy, and Wallace is not exactly a big city. But I love all of the members here, and the people we're teaching.

This Tuesday, we had a great lesson with Tom again about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He seems conflicted on baptism, saying he wants to be baptized within the next 30 days, but also not wanting to agree to a date. It was a really spiritual lesson, though, and he seems to be progressing well. In other news regarding people we're teaching, Michael did something for us this week. We were over teaching about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, and near the end he just looked at us and said, "You guys need a haircut." We said we knew, but wanted to find somewhere cheap. To our delight, he told us that he cut hair and would do it for free. Now, I've received a number of free haircuts on my mission, and always gotten exactly what I wanted, so I wasn't worried at all. In retrospect, I should have, knowing Michael. He pulled out his kit and Elder Martins wanted to go first and said he wanted it short on the sides and a little longer on the top. Well, he got what he asked for, but not what he wanted. Apparantly his and Michael's ideas of what short is are different. So he wasn't super happy with his haircut, but I thought I could get around by that by specifying exactly what I wanted. So, I asked for a 2 on the sides with a fade up to an 8 on top, leaving me with a solid inch left on top. However, you have to take off your glasses when getting your hair cut, so I couldn't see what he was coming at my head with. As soon as I felt him start cutting, my only thought was, "Oh that's not an 8." But the damage was done, and now I have something around a 2-3 on top and even shorter on the sides. At least hair grows back, right? Aside from that, they only news is that Sandra, the wife of one of our people we're teaching, got emergency surgery this week, so if you could keep her in y'alls prayers that would be great. 

In just fun news, we had our branch Christmas party this week. Our branch president's wife roped me into playing clarinet for a game of guessing Christmas songs, which was fun. Sorry, no videos of that. They only had me play a couple of notes at a time. But I did also provide some background music. We were supposed to wear our pajamas, and so we did. Some other missionaries happened to have some, and so we borrowed them. I went with a full candy  cane theme, carrying a big one and had pockets full of little one's to hand out. That was a big hit with the kids, and some of the adults. But it ws overall just a ton of fun. 

The craziest part of the week is the weather. We got hit by winter storm Diego here, which didn't do a whole lot. Well, in the northern  part of the state, they're absolutely covered in snow. Down here in the Southern Kingdom, we got rain. A lot of it. 3 days straight and counting, with temperatures in the mid to high 30's. Being outside isn't the most fun right now, but at least it's not been  pouring. The biggest downsides are not having umbrellas, and our now brutally short haircuts which don't hold heat in very well. But the worst is over, and we can stay inside all day if we want. We have an elder's activity this afternoon where 3 elders are going to do the Andy's Challenge. This is at a restaurant called Highway 55, and you have to eat a 55 ounce burger, a 64 ounce drink, and a basket of french fries in a half hour. If you do it, it's free. If not, it's $30. I wisely opted out. If you're interested, I can tell you the results later. But that's all for now, see y'all! (Pictures will come later.)

Haircut

Best socks I've ever seen

Reindeer we put together

Us all dressed up

And finally, Santa in his restored state. Yes, this used to be super creepy Santa

 Wow they seem determined to make sure that I don't recognize anyone when I come home, a boundary change right before I leave and another before I get home. And don't tell Tom, but Winter Storm Diego just became rain by the time it hit us. We're too far south and too close to the beach for much snow here. However, our backyard did flood rather impressively. It's been in the high 30's and raining for three days straight now, which makes being outside a lot of fun, especially with it being 95% humidity or more at the same time. The moisture just cuts straight through your coats, there's not a whole lot you can do about it. But out of all the crazy weather, hurricane #2 (Florence) was definitely the most exciting. I don't know if I mentioned it, but when I was flying in we tried to go to Atlanta at the same time that Hurricane Irma was hitting. So, I've had Hurricanes Irma, Florence, and Michael all in one mission. And Winter Storm Diego. These should be how I name my kids. That's names for two boys and two girls, not 10 girls though. Sorry. Guess I can't do that unless we get a whole bunch more crazy weather. And I don't think you want that too much.

3 December 2018

So, we've been trying to get people to church, but it's been difficult. So, new methods had to be created. We've been trying to get Ozzie to church, but he's always been giving excuses. So, we managed to get him there using an... unusual method. We met with him on Wednesday, and ended up getting him to promise to buy us some Taco Bell if he didn't go. So, he got out of Taco Bell, but I can say that I've never been happier to not get free Taco Bell. But not too much happened this week unfortunately, both me and my companion got sick. Well, he got sick and then passed it onto me. The only other news from this week is that I stepped into a hidden hole and ended up covered in mud. Thankfully, we were about to head home anyways, but Elder Martins had a good laugh. I'm just glad I've got really flexible ankles, I can't even remember ever having any sort of ankle injury, and I've stepped badly and twisted them so many times... maybe it has something to do with my ability to flip my feet around, which is going to be one of the only pictures from this week.

 Just an incredibly creepy Santa at a thrift store that they got all cleaned up and redid some stuff on

 Only the best stocking I've ever seen.

 And as promised, my halfway backwards feet. I want to get them further around, but it's a weird thing to stretch for.