Crazy how I've already been out 5 months...almost a quarter done with my mission! And it only gets faster. Not a lot of really cool things to talk about this week but there were a few things! It was probably the funniest FHE I've been to so far...the ward did Zumba in the parking lot with a legit instructor! We couldn't participate but we got some pretty funny videos that I black mail the ward with to get dinners with! So far it's worked...there may be 4 times this month that we don't have a dinner! :D Hahahahahaha. But then I took that threat back and they are just more willing to help out. Something kind of cool is that while I was at FHE with our District Leader, Elder Bonaro and 2 other visa waiters went to teach a full discussion in Portuguese! They were pretty excited about that. Our whole apartment is labeled with Portuguese words on sticky notes.
We did even more service this week! Elder Jackson, a visa waiter, was with us for this one, we pulled a lot of weeds at this same home that we have been working on, and they fed us afterwards. Our week at Bishop's home was bittersweet. Their dogs HATE US. I've never seen more depressed dogs. They wouldn't eat, go outside to use the bathroom, and instead felt the need to take a dump right next to my bed. And then sleep next to us. So we took a half hour walk with them and they loved it! But as soon as we were back in the house. Back to hating.
Gave another blessing Wednesday to a less active named Eliza. Eliza had been coming to church actively for about a month but started hanging out with her old friends and got into Word of Wisdom issues. She called Bishop and told him that she needed a blessing because she felt the spirit leave and wanted it back. So we met her at the church and she was in tears. I don't remember what I said but Elder Bonaro said that I mentioned things I couldn't have known, so that was pretty cool :) We're hoping to visit her again.
Sounds like the Fourth of July was fun for all of you! We also had a nice July 4th because President permitted all missionaries to be out later, but be in by 11. So we went to a fireworks show with the Singles ward! It didn't get dark till like 1030, so we didn't see that many but still fun! We sang songs to guitar and mingled while I ate my 6lbs bag of gummy bears :)
Friday was probably my favorite day. All week I felt pretty strongly that we needed to present the "stop-smoking" program that the church has to our investigator Tim who I've mentioned before. He had told Josh (our Elder's Quorum President) that he wanted to stop chewing Tobacco. So all week I was studying the program and prayed to have the spirit and boldness to present it.So we went to Josh's house and actually helped move some 1300 pound hay bales! Farming is actually kind of fun! But a lot of work. Tim works with Josh so he was already there. We were all in the living room and Tim was expecting a regular lesson. So he was kind of phased out, had his Oakley sunglasses on, and waited for it. But we said we were going to teach something different this week, and brought up how he wanted to stop chewing. He lifted his sunglasses, and stared me in the eye. He was paying attention now! The program PROMISES that if obeyed with EXACTNESS that he can be tobacco free in a week. It involves a morning and evening prayer, Grape-fruit juice after every meal, cinnamon mouthwash, and a few other things. Tim said he would do it. Every part of it and we told him that if he cheated even one small step, he would fail. We told him to give us his tobacco. He willingly reached in his pocket, pulled it out and Josh says, "Let's shoot it with the shotgun!" So Josh and his brother got them, threw the tobacco can in the air and blew it to pieces :) Tim is doing awesome so far, keep in in your prayers! He quit smoking all on his own already. The goal is, that once he is tobacco-free, he will see how it has changed his life and then want to go further with baptism.
Saturday was hilarious! We got a call from Elder Issacson (our DL) asking if we could pick them up. His story was that he hit an "unforseen pot hole," popped BOTH his bike tires, and Elder Schramm then hit Elder Issacson and somehow popped HIS back tire. So we go over there. This "Pot hole" was an entire square of cement on the sidewalk that was broken up into several pieces...how do you not see that?! And only 5 days ago, they had crashed their BRAND NEW 2012 TOYOTA COROLLA. They had it for three days! Ironically enough we had our own experience the same day. For about 3 weeks, the truck said we had a low tire and we ignored it. While out and about, Elder Bonaro said, "I really feel like we should take care of the tire right now." There are no air pumps in like any of the gas stations here. Luckily we found one, aired it up, and we heard a a lot of air coming out. Sure enough there is a gaping hole in our tire and it probably would have burst on the way home. In the parking lot, we changed to the doughnut tire but had a lot of problems with the crank. I have never seen a hippie before. Till that day. Wearing bright colors, 10 multi-colored bandannas, probably 5 teeth, walked up and said, "Hey do any of you fellas have $5?." We said, "No." Haha and this kid is probably like 22 and had a rubber duck stringed around his neck. Kind of creepy. He seemed gay as well. But long story short, we're on the doughnut tire!
Remember Jessica that we found moving and gave a blessing to? We were invited over for Rootbeer floats, so we went over and it turns out that her and her two brothers live there. It was so much fun and they are hilarious people. Gave us lots of prank ideas! They wanted to set up a kickball game with us so that is exciting! Kyle (the less-active we helped move) was at church this Sunday! So cool.
Well that's about it for last week! Today so far we went and got a haircut at sportclips for free, washed our car, and talked with President this morning. Elder Bonaro and I have been ahead of the game with all the new technology missionaries will soon get to use...We built an online spreadsheet that has every ward in both stakes that has the members names, age, address, phone number, a comments section, and a column to know who contacted them and what date. It is basically an online teaching record on steroids. We have 10 ward missionaries in the single adult ward, so we asked them to go through this spreadsheet of their homeward and put any information they have on someone, in the comment section. Within a day, all of them have been working and it is awesome! Saves us a lot of time. We showed this to President today and he was super excited about it! We also made maps populated by each ward list so that you can see where every house is and what houses are nearby :) Last and most cool....President gave us a tablet to use. We are probably the first missionaries in the world to actually use it for proselyting. He wanted us to pilot out a few things, use our online digital area book we made, and see how effective it is. So we aren't the first to get actual iPads because those aren't distributed yet, but we are probably first to start with tablets :) SO COOL!
Sounds like Torie did awesome as usual! I bet she's out of energy by now! Good to hear that Jesse watch the Best Two Years with my Teddy Bear replica of myself :) I miss you all and have a great week! Love you and stay classy!
Zumba Pictures:
