Sunday, February 24, 2013

HIYA YALL!

From February 18, 2013 . . .
Hellllooooo everyone!
Hey mom and dad. I love your letters. They make me think and recollect and keep me excited and focused on the work (not that I need extra excitement or focus) but 101% doesn't hurt does it?
I love you all tons. Sorry that last week's letter was so short. I'll do my best this week.

This week has been so cool! 3 different people have told us that there is something special about us. They can feel a different spirit when we are around. It took me by surprise but made me so happy. One member told us that he loved us and we were what he needed. That made my day, maybe my life! To have that profound of an effect on someone like that. Boy am I lucky!
So we hiked last week which was really fun. Sorry about the email. Here are 2 picks form the hike. I'll try to get the zone picture we took up there.

Not too much happened on Monday except eating at the Schwenke's. Soooo good.

Tuesday was crazy with transfers. President cancelled transfer conferences so the day was spent trying to find the missionaries and get their stuff transported. Luckily we still had time to do missionary work. But we welcomed a bunch of people unto our zone. Elder Mendes, and Elder Marquez (same one from central), Elder Slik (the one from BYU), Sister Nakaima (I think that's how you spell it, she's from Japan) and 2 new missionaries Elder Beers and Elder Meyers. It's fun! Tuesday I also met a missionary going to the Lansing mission and I talked to him about Michigan and all the stuff he needed to know and we tried to help him prepare to serve and all that. I think we were helping his mom the most. She was stressssseed. Moms sometimes get like that.

Wednesday was great. We went to visit a member family and they fed us a bunch. Like it was 2:30 and somehow they convinced us to eat a dinner-sized meal. It was sooooo good. I eat a lot out here but I don’t even care (well I do a little bit) because people love us so much and they make us succcchhhhh good food. Then for real dinner we had real Cuban food. It was good, but crazy different.

Thursday was district meeting and it was good. Before everything, I always devote myself to getting everything out of it possible, and it works. I learned a lot at district meeting. OH! Then we had a sick experience visiting members. (Can you tell what we've been focusing on? We are trying so hard to find people to teach.) We went in just randomly to stop by and her ex-son-in-law was there and so was her granddaughter and her granddaughter's boyfriend. The first 2 are inactive and the 3rd isn’t a member. We started by talking to the ex-son-in-law. He has been waiting for a time to come back to church and we shared with him and he said that he has a plan how to come back but he's just been waiting for a time to do it. Guess what? Now’s the time. He said he's gonna start when he goes back home. I believe him. It was so cool to talk with him and to encourage him. He knew that being away was not helping him; he just needed a little push to come back. I was so happy to be there at the perfect time to help him out. Then we switched to Spanish and started talking to the other 2. The granddaughter is in the same boat. She was active when she was littler and now wants to get back and wants her boyfriend to join the church too. When we had to move on to an appointment, she asked if we really had to go and couldn’t stay and share more scriptures. She says she gets scared when the home teachers and visiting teachers come by, but since we're young she can talk to us. That was cool. She did convince us to share another scripture right before we left. It feels so good to make people happy. At dinner on Thursday I got into a "pop-off" with a 5 year old. It was to see who is the better pop star. It was sooo funny and so much fun. She's a riot and mocked me silly! She had a lot of clever insults and wasn't afraid to challenge me to all sorts of dancing and singing competitions. Then we went to teach English class. I love helping out so much.

Friday was a crazy day. We had to loan the car to the other elders and then we got stranded without our bikes so we kinda lost all our afternoon, which was okay b/c it was weekly planning so we got to plan extra good. We met with a member that night who had served in this mission in 2005. He came back and got married and started a family. He was giving us all kinds of tips. From a returned missionary’s perspective, from a member’s perspective, and from a exNLVM missionary. It was cool and it taught me a lot about how I can be a better missionary. O! We had a FHE with a family about obedience and it went super well. One of the sons had just gotten out of prison and he had been searching for the truth ever since he got locked up. He liked the lesson and then came to church on Sunday! Then, later, a member talked about us and the specific things that we were doing that were good and the good spirit that we brought. It made me giddy. It made me feel good!

Saturday. OH man. We ate. So much. In the morning we had bfast with the stake president. Oh man. Stake president's wives always cook really, really, really well. Maybe that’s a prereq in the church handbook 1 or something. After that we had to help the new elders get some things b/c they were walking around their area without bikes. So we helped them get bikes so they can work more effectively. Then, a little later, we ate lunch at a member's house. Then we had a huuuuge dinner with a member. Carne Asada fries: a new favorite food. Then a less active woman gave us dinner too. We were so full I didn’t eat all Sunday. Literally.

Sunday was great. We did a lot of good stuff but we talked with a woman who has 22 cats. 22 cats. Her name? Kitty. She also has dogs and ferrets and guinea pigs.  But the cats all follow her around like she's Moses or something. It was funny but then when I thought about it, it was kinda scary.
So that's kind of the week. Idk.
I love you all so much!
Sam

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