I’d like to start with a thank you
to everyone who has written and been writing me! It's so nice to hear from all
of you and know how and what you're doing! Make sure you send me your address
though so I can respond! Kristen, I got your letter and I want to write you
back but you didn’t tell me how I can write you back! You others that did the
same you know who you are.
The next order of business is a
personal favor to me from all of you -
I want to know each of your ideal
bands. It’s a little game I’ve been playing with people here and I want to hear
what everyone from back home has to say. The rules are you can have 4 people,
real or fictional. It could be Nacho Libre, Jack Black, Slash, Paul McCartney,
the Hulk, Darth Vader, Taylor Swift or anyone else you can imagine. If the
person you want is not a musician (Darth Vader for example) you can assume that
he has average rock star talent in any instrument that you choose. So for Darth
Vader it could be like the 3/2 upright bass or something like that. I’m curious
to see what bands you guys would come up with!
Now to the less important business, I
will start by describing my companions a little bit more for all of you. Elder
Harvey is a football player who grew up half in Utah and half in Texas. He is
about 6'3" or 6'4" and is a big strong guy. He and I get along really
well, we both like telling jokes and being silly and we both are laid back and
like working hard as well. He likes League of Legends though... so I don't know
how cool he really is... just joking.
He's awesome. Elder Noyes is a little shorter than me and is a ballroom
dancer. That is his life. He trains everyday to keep his body in dancing form
even though he isn’t allowed to dance while he is here. He also is a pray-er.
Whenever he has a problem he doesn’t think about it, he just gets on his knees
and prays. It’s a little difficult sometimes because it’s hard to discuss
things with him because he will be praying but he is a good guy. Elder Harvey
is going to San Antonio and Elder Noyes is going to Columbia, South Carolina,
but we are all speaking Spanish so that is really good practice.
Before I forget, this week I have
also been thinking a lot about something Brother (Cameron's grandpa) Mayo said.
-- Hope less, know more. Hopeless, no more. I figured I could add that to
the list of corny things I’ve been sending all of you. I had made a note of it
on my paper that I wanted to send it home so I did.
Thanks again for the text message
write up Cameron, they made me happy. I’m glad you’re having a great time. I
like getting things that help me focus. I'm weird that way I guess.
Mom, typing up a big list of questions
and then sending them and SASEs would be awesome. You could then type up my
response and put it on the blog as well. Klout would tell you that is a good
way to increase influence, constantly updating.
Missionary work is tough. I haven’t
even started the real thing but I know why they call it "work" and
not just missionary time. It’s long days and short nights. But it isn’t all bad
of course. Me and the trifecto and the district and the zone have a great time.
Last Saturday we got to take part in the first ever Saturday Smackdown and it
was loads of fun. One of the other districts hosted a huge, and almost violent,
grammar challenge event. It was exciting and fun to watch and take part in. It
was basically a huge spelling bee and memorization of vocab quiz but there was
a lot of screaming and such. It was so close at the end that there had to be a
video review! Not that any of that makes sense to all of you but I figured I
had to write about it because it was so much fun. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll get
to take part again.
Wednesday night before class ended
Hermano Urquhart was telling a story and I decided I would share my story about
returning home from BYU with all my coat. [Sam
wore 3-4 sweatshirts/jackets (maybe more) on the plane because he ran out of space in his
suitcase. He was quite toasty on the
airplane.] It took about 15 minutes to tell all the details but everyone was
laughing and there were people from all across the zone and the nearby districts
listening as well. Elder Harvey was laughing so hard he cried big fat tears. It
made me really happy. I like making people laugh.
My stomach has still been bothering
me but it hasn’t has been as debilitating as it was last week. It’s just like a
constant reminder from my body that it doesn’t like the food here and it wants
more sleep. But I can’t blame it. We don’t get too much shut eye. But it’s good
because there is so much to do and so-so little time. My 7 weeks left feel like
7 years but I think I might need 70 to be the type of missionary I want to be.
Thanks mom and dad and everyone else
for the packages. Sorry for omitting this in my last letter. The tie was
awesome. People were shaking my hand like I was a celebrity, or the president.
Everyone one loves a patriot, am I right? The other packages with food were
good too. I like sharing and I was surprised how fast the taffy and the
fireballs went but I know I made a lot of elders and sisters very happy. I wish
I had more time to write and collect my thoughts, I have so much to say and
this letter definitely needs a reworking.
Grandma and Grandpa thanks for the
letter as well. I liked hearing from you and I hope you both have a great time
in Michigan!
Rebekah! You have a very exciting
day coming up for you and I’m so happy for you! I wish I could be there but I’ll
have to congratulate you when I get back!
What to say - what to say - what to
say. I guess I’ll just say whatever. I really like it here a lot. I like how
undistracted I can be sometimes even if other times I just wanna curl up and
watch a movie or something. I miss that stuff but I know I’ll still be able to
watch when I get home.
This week we have 2 new investigators,
Carlos and Tito. Tito is from Uruguay, I think, and he is really smart and
found the missionaries in his busqueda del verdad. He is trying to find what is
true and if there is a God and he stumbled across the missionaries and it is
our job to teach him that God lives and loves him. It's hard because he says he
doesn’t want to be blind and that he can’t believe anything yet because he hasn’t
learned everything. I am learning a lot more from him than he is from me.
Carlos is from Mexico and is Catholic but has kind of fallen out of it recently.
He is going though some really tough family struggles and doesn’t think God is
answering his prayers. He almost didn’t let us in the door but when we
mentioned Jesus Christ he softened up. I forget sometimes that other people
know about Jesus. Then I always feel silly when I do. hhahaa.
Our district has had the cleanest
classroom 2 weeks in a row. We even got that written on our paper for us.
It is pretty exciting that we are so awesome.
So speaking of awesome .... I made a
huge mistake while teaching the other day. Like the kind that makes you go home
and cry and then never leave your room again. While I was teaching a lesson, I
said that Jesus Christ died to clean our fish. To clean our FISH! The investigator looked at
me like I was completely insane and I didn’t even notice it until he asked me
why he needed his fish cleaned. ... I about died right there. It was so embarrassing.
That is one mistake I will NOTTTTT be making again.
That’s all the time I have this week.
I wish I had more time to tell you more stories but there never is. Thank you
all again for reading this letter and writing your own back to me. Nothing is
better than after a hard day coming home and being able to read all of your
encouragement and funny stories! Please
keep them coming, they aren’t a distraction and I don’t respond individually because
I don’t have time. I want to - I want to - I want to and I promise I will get
to all of you soon. Please keep them coming and make sure to include your
address so I can write back and thank you!
Oh, and if you’re not in the mood to
write about you band, lemme know what one tool in the room you’re in right now
you would use for the zombie apocalypse. Remember it has to be in the room and you
have to be able to survive. No cheating.
Until next week!
I love you all
Elder Samuel Blake Anderson, the
first of his name, son of Robert, heir and Lord of House Anderson, Servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ
No comments:
Post a Comment