Transfer 2- Week 1 (Elder M.)

Hola!

Wow, what a week!  This mission stuff is crazy awesome!  The gnats and the heat are killer though and it's only just beginning.  Summer should be fun...  (I am getting much more tan though!)

First off, Georgia is the best - people feed us everywhere we go!  =D  However, I think they must have all gotten together and decided that this week they would all feed us the same thing because I have never had so many baked beans and pulled pork sandwiches in my life!  Lol, I think I counted 6 plates of baked beans and 7 pork sandwhiches this week - all from different people!  It's a good thing I like baked beans...

We found some SWEET families this week!  One guy we are working with is a Methodist minister, but he's really curious and always has the most perfect questions for us.  He asked his head pastor whether it was ok to continue meeting with us and his pastor told him that he knew this man was strong enough in the faith that he wouldn't be pulled off into anything untrue and to do what his heart told him.  (Kaching!)  Lots of fun.  We also tracked into John a few nights ago and shared with him a few verses from the BoM.  WHAM!!!  The Spirit clobbered him hard and he has taken to reading it and really wants to know for himself.  We had a second evening with him over the weekend and he asked for a second copy to give to his son.  We are hoping to be able to meet with the whole family here soon, but John is really loving the Book of Mormon and especially Moroni's promise at the end. He is a Sunday school teacher and outreach minister for his Episcopalean congregation and he says it frustrates him a lot of times when people take everything their pastor or teacher (himself) says as truth without ever going to God themselves and finding out for sure!  (YES!)  I love that man!  His 14 year old is super into calculus and engineering stuff as well so we have some fun times.

Hmmm, what else....ah, yes!  Story time. So Saturday we met with an old guy that hasn't been visited in quite a while.  He's dying of cancer, but my goodness, he definitely needs the gospel of Christ!  (To set the scene, he lives in a trailer park, smokes up a storm, and was watching the neighbor kids while their mom was away.) While we were chatting, he suddenly up and tells us that he has mystical powers that came to him from God (passed through his grandfather) that allow him to heat things up (whatever that meant??).  My companion and I look at each other and then back at him. I guess he read the skepticism in our eyes because he decided to demonstrate.  He rubbed his hands together, said a silent little prayer, then held his palm a few inches over my arm and asked if I could feel a burning sensation.  ...Nothing.  He waived it off and said it was because I didn't have God in my heart and then told my companion he would heat up a penny for him instead. Again nothing.  We decided not to press it because he suddenly became very distracted with getting us bags of peanuts.  I would have just continued trying to share some of the good word with him, but at that point one of the kids did something to upset him (feeding the cat to much) and he started shouting up a storm and threatening him. He then pulled a gun off the shelf and started waving it around. By that point, it had gone too far, so I stood up and rebuked him (a bit nervously as he had a gun and was pretty riled up) but he got the point and calmed down. We left soon after that, but we are hoping that maybe searching out God for the first time in his life will change him around a lot.

Life is definitely exciting in Brunswick.  :)

Well, enough of my week. Thanks for the updates!  It was good to hear how the family is doing!  I'm sorry that your week also had to be "interesting", Mom. Finding a dead body in an apartment does not sound like a happy experience.  The rain should definitely help the crops in Utah grow well this year though. Did you put in as many potatoes as last year?  Tell Daniel that I am expecting exciting news from him next week about shaving 10 seconds off his time!!!  Lol, or at least 3 seconds...  I know what he's going through with the lonely summer in Logan - not much happens during those months without anyone around. Last summer was pretty good in Hillside with both of us there on weekends though.  Lol, the mail blitz for Benj sounds like a blast!  I bet the mailboxes in the MTC can't even fit that much mail!  Grandpa, thanks for the update on Crystal's wedding. It sounds like you had quite the crowd turn out for that. Brandt sounds like a wonderful guy - hopefully I'll meet him sometime at one of our reunions. Good luck with your summer classes!

My legs haven't bulked up yet, but, they are definitely stronger and should be bulked out by the time I leave this place!  We ride 20+ miles a day - my mountain bike definitely requires more work than Turner's road bike!  I might have to swap out sometime in the future.

Photos this week:

I've never seen a speed "hump" so well warned and marked.

Who's that in the Lover's Oak???  Yeah, that tree is huge!  ...and it's right in the middle of an intersection.

Love ya'll

Elder Awesome