WHAT??? Are you serious?! Jaclyn bought a new laptop over a virus????! Grrrrr. What kind of a worthless techie did she go to?! I'm sure the hardware was just fine; even assuming that the virus infection was REALLY BAD all it would have taken was a simple reload of the operating system. Lol, sorry, I just got really worked up over that. Hopefully she didn't drop too much on the new computer....
Whoa, that's kinda weird to think of John and Peter being home. Just in time for Paul's wedding too! I'll bet he planned for that. That was kind of odd to hear how tough Brazil was. I'd always thought of those S. American countries as being very high baptizing. I look forward to swapping stories someday. Those boys are great - I would challenge them to another game of Settlers of Catan if I were present! I still remember John and Peter playing Settlers of Catan with Terry and I the weekend before they left - and I won! Bwahahahha, yeah, it was a special moment to beat those two SoC masters! =D You hear that, Fife brothers? I want a rematch!
I love miracle shares! Hearing John's story about the scraggly man and how God was working on both of them to bring them together was pretty cool. And now he's a bishop! Lol, perhaps the speed of giving people callings like that is slightly higher there than in the U.S..... Reminds me of one that just happened a couple hours ago: Elder Jensen and I had just finished up with our weekly shopping when we got an emergency call to be down at the hospital to give Brother Beach a blessing. That all worked out fine, and we were on our way down the hall to the elevators when this older Thai lady walking in the other direction stops and gets all excited asking if we were "God people". We told her yes, and she got all excited and shared this story with us of how her daughter had been hospitalized a couple of years ago with a brain tumor or aneurism (?) or something. The doctors in the emergency room gave her a 2% chance of living through the next couple hours. They had just moved to the U.S. from Thailand and had been Bhuddhist all their lives, but she said she knew at that moment that she couldn't pray to Bhuddha because they didn't believe in miracles. Good time to change religions, I guess, because she suddenly began to call on God. The doctors told her that a miracle happened right there where the bleeding stopped and they were able to do whatever they needed to do. So now she's a firm believer in God and wants to meet with us and serve a mission! Lol. We told her we'd love to stop by her place in the next couple of days. =D Her daughter was right there with her mom at the time and also wants to "give it back to Jesus" and be a missionary. At the end of our 20 minute conversation in the hallway, Elder Jensen and I put out our hands to give a shake goodbye but I guess we came off as more friendly than that because this gal practically jumped into our arms and gave us both hugs. Wow, that was awkward! Lol, I now know exactly what it feels like to be an RM around girls. Elder Jensen and I both felt weirded out and super stiff as we said goodbye and repented all the way out the door.
Anyway, hearing about the Fifes reminded me that I got Paul's wedding anouncement in the mail the same day as Tati's. Jessica Halling's came 2 days later. Lol, and now you said Collin has one? Wowzer....what a summer. I don't think there has been a summer this active for weddings for my circle of friends since 2010 when 12 of them got married. =) Well, congrats to all around. If you see any of them, be sure to pass my well wishes on to them.
Have fun with your new bike, Joe! Just don't wreck on anymore cars and knock out your teeth. =P ....I've barely avoided that myself a few times. How do you feel about having 6 Eagle Scouts in the family, Mom? Lol, I think it was more work on your part than it ever was for us.
Ok, so get this: I am brilliant! Lol, I know, I know, I shouldn't blow my own horn, but seriously, sometimes I amaze myself. Here's what happened. This past Saturday, we were supposed to have dinner with the entire extended Richardson family about 15 miles west of Brunswick in the country. We got out there and they had hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. Thankfully, they had a covered pavillion because a hard thunderstorm came in pretty quick and lightning was flashing all around, but we had a good time. Anyway, I had thought that was dinner, but apparently, it was only round 1. Here in the South they have what is known as "low country boil" where they have these HUGE pots that they fill with everything imaginable (shrimp, eggs, potatoes, corn, crabs, sausage, onions, little bunnies, the neighbors dog, etc) and then boil it for several hours till it's all done and tasty. Then they drain the water and upend the pot all over the table to make a kind of scrambled buffet where you grab what you want and toss it on your plate. Anyway, so I've been worried that these Southerners are going to make me eat some weird meats ever since I got here and today was a testing day. Apparently they had planned a big treat for us and had dozens of live crabs that they tossed into the water along with everything else. They learned that Jensen and I had never eaten crabs and got really excited for this "opportunity" to show us what eating crabs is really like. By the time it was all done and poured out on the table, I was staring at this crab with its boiled eyes and face and legs sticking out with the shell still on and decided that there was no way I would ever be chewing it down. I quickly whipped out my planner - "Elder Jensen! We're nearly late for our appointment with Mr. Wilcox! We gotta go!" "What? Can we stay for another 30 minutes?" "Nah, we gotta take off quick here if we're going to make it back in time." (grumble grumble) In the end we convinced them to send us home with a platter of stuff including 6 or 7 crabs after they showed Elder Jensen (in great detail) how to break off the legs, crack open the shell, and suck out the innards, yada yada. (queasy) Needless to say, Elder Jensen is eating those things alone!!!
Haha! So yeah, now anytime I face anything that messed up in the future, I'll just have a backup appointment in mind that we can escape to! Pretty genius, huh? =D
I just realized the other day that I've been in Brunswick longer than any of the other missionaries here by half a transfer... It's odd how well you can get to know a town in such a short time when you bike all the back alleys and streets every day. I'm almost starting to feel at home, but I know that as soon as I do that I'll get transferred again.
Well, proselyting was hot and slow this week. A couple of small successes that made us happy, but nothing really worth writing about. My mission journal has slowly been dwindling - Elder Jensen tells me that someday my posterity will appreciate it and I just told him that I plan on burning all my journals before I get to that point anyway. =P I've adjusted to the heat and humidity though. It's up over 100 every day now, but I've just gotten to the mental state of accepting the abuse and working through it anyway. Thank goodness for ice and refrigerated water when we return home at night though!
Happy Pioneer Day yesterday!
Love y'all,
Elder M.
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