14 September 2015
So some funny stories this week:
1) Just like AZ, there are a ton of old retired folks here who love this heat yet still wear cardigans while everyone else is dripping in sweat. So we had dinner with one such cute old couple this week and they took us out to a delicious diner. After dinner, to get out of the parking lot, they had to turn left. Keep in mind, the driver is very very old. Anyway, he turns out in front of an on-coming car, cutting him off, into the turn lane, cutting another off, and then into the far right lane, cutting another person or 4 total off, all while being honked at profusely and acting as if it was a regular day. The land of fruits and nuts.
2) We were street contacting and came upon a gate tucked away in a quite street. It looked like it belonged to Robert Redford or maybe even Donald Trump. It was very ornate and had all these fancy lamps and ironwork and such on it. So naturally we wanted to see the house, because judging by the gate, it had to be amazing, right? Nope. Double-wide trailer.
3) So I have only been a missionary a month and I've already been to a college party. We were going around visiting some of the people who said they were interested in talking to us and we had visited with a guy named Stephan a few times and were going to see how he was doing. When we walked up, he was pulling out his garbage can which was filled with beer bottles and there was music and girls everywhere. I've never seen a party stop so quickly. So if the police really want to crack down on underage drinking, just send in two Mormon missionaries to crash their parties. Works like a charm.
The past couple of days have been pretty relaxing for me. My companion has had a cold and so we didn't leave the house and so I just studied a bunch and tried to pick up some more Spanish. I'm surprised at how much I remember! I'm going the "slowly but surely" route on trying to learn this Spanish. I am currently the only missionary in my whole district who cannot speak Spanish, so that adds even more motivation!
Seeing as we've been inside for the past 3 days and been taking it slow for a few days before that (he's been feeling bad for the better part of a week now), we really didn't have a crazy good week, but there was definitely some success. We picked up three new investigators. Nancy was a street contact who has always wondered why there are so many churches with conflicting doctrine, so obviously we were happy to oblige in teaching her the restoration. She is going to read and pray and we're meeting with her Wednesday. Amy and Fernando were a referral from a random 775 number so that was interesting! We stopped by and did a quick introductory lesson and Amy, the wife, seemed very excited (even though she is pretty shy) to be able to learn more. She really wants to have more to do with religion and work on her relationship with God. Fernando was raised Catholic but really has no concept of what religion and God really do. He didn't seem super interested, but is willing to learn and is very kind. We are very hopeful for all of them and have been praying for them!
Speaking of inevitable, my white Oakleys died on Wednesday :'( We were playing basketball at the church for morning exercise and...well...lets just say that even though we're "holy men" right now and representatives of Jesus Christ, we still have bones in our arms that can deal substantial damage to molded plastics. I'm going to try and super glue them (is that using my frugal side I got from Dad, or my "always prepared" side from Boy Scouts??) and see if that does the trick. If not, I might need to get you to send me another pair of my glasses or figure something out because the current glasses/time ratio isn't looking too good right now. But on the upside, I made the basket. So there's good in everything!
Also you could let everyone know they are more than welcome to write me!
