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.

26 November 2018

Thanksgiving has passed, so I now guiltlessly can wear my Christmas ties again. They've been sitting on a shelf for 11 months now, but they're free again! I was just given my second one this week, actually. Very exciting.

Thanksgiving day wasn't too exciting for us out here. We started off the morning biking to a pulga that's pretty close and tried to talk to a few people there. We had a pretty nice conversation with someone, but she kept on trying to sell me a phone case. She was near the booth, and I didn't know it was her booth until I'd started talking to her. Oops. After a while of talking to people there (and this place was PACKED), we went to our Thanksgiving lunch. They had a super good ham that they had cooked, and I found out their secret later: they had cooked it in ginger ale. Apparently this is a common thing in the south. You either cook your ham in ginger ale or Pepsi. It sounds gross or weird, but it was super delicious. And super tender. Oh, now I'm hungry again... We stayed and visited with them for a little while, and one of their guests was a little interesting... He was from the Cary area, and he knows Brother Watkins! Mom, I have yet to serve there, but I've at least now been able to make indirect contact with them! He said he'd pass on that I'd said hi. And if they ask you if it's from me because the person can't remember my name, say yes. Of course, we did our missionary duty and tried to eat everything that they had. Now, this was only the first big meal of the day. We had a dinner that we'd been invited to as well. So, we went to them at five. Thankfully, the turkey took way longer than expected, and so our stomachs had some more time to prepare for round two. Of course, we ended up stuffing ourselves silly again and having a good time. Both families have been appropriately thanked, with much gratitude on our part. 

One of the best days of the week was when we got to sit down with Oscar and talk with him again. He's really humble and nice, and always invites us right in. We taught him about the importance of keeping the Sabbath Day holy and going to church. He's talked to missionaries before, and gone to the church a few times in the past. He said he wasn't a very religious person, but the church that he does like is ours. Then his wife spoke up and told him that if he liked a church, he should go to it! It was awesome. 

Of course, the real highlight of this week was a day that we spent knocking doors in a town called Burgaw. It was this neighborhood of maybe 125 houses that was the real interest there. While there, we got to talk to many people who "weren't interested," one person who said they'd go to church without knowing who we were or anything (and then didn't), another person who accused us of being a cult, and then an old couple with a ton of random stuff. From the top! 

Well, the people who weren't interested aren't exciting at all. Let's skip to random church guy. 

So we knocked his door, and he answered pretty quickly. After, of course, we heard some girl yell to someone, "It's two white guys!" and a voice respond, "No way, really?" We started talking with him for about 15 seconds before he asked where our church was. We told him and were writing down the address as he had a conversation in the background with his mom (?) where he asked her if she'd take him to church the next day. She seemed rather taken aback by this, but agreed. So he said that he'd go. He didn't, but it was an interesting contact anyways. 

Now there's cult lady. As she opened the door, the words were already coming out. "I'm not interested in what you're selling." The door was already shutting, and my companion quickly interjected that we weren't selling anything. Innocent enough, we get confused for salespeople fairly frequently. Clearly we were wrong, and she made sure to tell us. Yanking open the door again, with fire beginning to rise in her eyes, she set us straight. Yes, we were trying to sell her our cult. Oh darn, how do they always see right through us? Desperate to form a rebuttal after having been thrust into the light so abruptly, we regrouped and countered with the bold declaration that we were not a cult. But this kind of impertinence could not stand! Oh, no, not with her! Straightening up, she announced her status as a good Christian woman, denounced us as a cult once more, and slammed the door in a righteous fury! Her eyes had been absolutely blazing! How dare we claim to Christians? Well and truly stymied by this, we counseled together briefly and decided on our next course of action, which seemed obvious at the time: burn down her house. After a few moments of searching, our efforts were fruitless in procuring sufficiently flammable materials to accomplish our plan, and so we moved on. 

And the disclaimer: Some of this was slightly exaggerated for comic effect, and we had no intentions of causing her or her house any harm. I just thought that it sounded like a great way to end the story, rather than the much more realistic (and boring) walking down the steps to the next house. But that's pretty much all of the exciting stuff for the week, see you next time! 

 

 I feel like as these people were setting up their Christmas decorations, their thought process went something like, "How can we make this setup as dangerous as possible?"

 Just random murals you can find in Burgaw

 Just wanted to let you know mom, I only knock doors in the safest places in my areas! When there were sisters in Wallace, they totally weren't banned from knocking here!

 

19 November 2018

I'm only able to type this on a phone, so this one'll be short. But our big three things this week involved those parts of the title, in that order.

First is the fire. We were tracting down a street, and someone was burning a huge pile of branches, and we offered to help. He said no, and so we asked him how we could help. He said he was fine, but we'd already started picking up branches. He said he didn't want us to smell like smoke, but we assured him it was fine. And so we started helping, and he was grateful. We talked and worked for probably about an hour, and had a really good conversation. It turns out he has talked with missionaries before after a surgery that left one of his knees immovable for 4 months, and they had visited him everyday. He really appreciated what they did for him, and expressed gratitude for what we did too. He also dispensed some life advice, which I've taken into consideration. He also saved some woman's life once, dragging her from a burning car. He's a really cool guy. He invited us back, and said that we could come over sometime for dinner, and gave us his number. It'll be great. 

Number two was a lot of fun for Elder Martins. We were knocking doors when someone named Terry opened. He seemed a little strange at first, and invited us in. He gave us both a hug, and said that he loved us because God loved us. We had heard someone playing guitar, and we asked it had been him. He said yes, and showed us. It was pretty cool. Elder Martins said he played guitar too, and was given the chance to play as well. Terry (who asked us to call him "Pops") got his son who also played guitar, and he and Elder Martins played together for a few minutes. Then they got me to sing along, and we just had a good time for a little bit. Trying to introduce the gospel, we played/sang the only two church songs Elder Martins knows, When I Am Baptized and something else I'm forgetting right now. Anyways, we had a nice talk. He isn't very interested, because he's very firm in his own faith. He used to play in his own band, toured the country, but then had his moment of realization and turned his life around. He's really nice though, and told us to stop by whenever we needed a drink, a place to use the bathroom, get something to eat, or stay for a few nights. A very generous man.

And finally, the guns. We had set up a time to visit a less active member, and so we swung by his house. We got to meet him and his two young daughters. He's a lot of fun, and we ended up taking pictures with an inflatable poop emoji that they had. But we were talking about his job as a police officer, and he wanted to show us his guns. He walked over to a very large gun safe and opened it, and he had some cool stuff, including an M1 Garand that his father (or grandfather, I don't remember) had used. I ended up describing it as "family history with firearms," and that fit pretty well. He also invited us over for dinner whenever we were available, and pressed $20 on us to buy food. The hardest thing on my mission in refusing money from members. They seem to think it's their duty to pay us sometime. Back in my second area, I had a member threaten to shoot me if I didn't take his money. But yeah, that was the majority of what happened this week.