Well, weird to say I am on my 6th transfer! Only 11 to go! It's been a pretty weird week, but with lots of exciting things going on. At the beginning of the week, we played "Bigger or Better" for FHE which was pretty fun. For whatever reason, we ended up with all kinds of food. Cantaloupe, Zucchini, and then Tomatoes. We didn't win haha.
Elders Inman and Wade, and Sister Gold
Elder Brisco didn't get transferred till Wednesday and I didn't get my new companion until about 5PM Wednesday. So all day Wednesday I was with Elder Pirillo, who just left today for Brazil. We helped teach new missionaries on how to do companion study, and then we went to candy town. I received my new companion, Elder Yeske, at about 5PM and we went straight to Missionary Splits. He seems like an ok kid. He's excited to work, knows the gospel well, and talks a lot. We have a few personality differences, but that is bound to happen when you live with someone 24/7. Elder Yeske is short with blonde hair and is from Riverside, CA.
Thursday we had a cool lesson with Meghan Powell who was baptized a few weeks ago. She wanted to learn more about Temples and baptisms for the dead, so we got to teach a whole lesson about temples! So that was pretty sweet. We then gave her a Priesthood blessing to help her get over her cold and to help her with the stresses of college. We had dinner with Mason, who took us to Cafe Rio and then he took us to Dairy Queen. Love this ward!
We taught Josh the Word of Wisdom on Friday, which is what he struggles with most. Drinking, smoking, and coffee. He seemed to take it alright, but I'm not sure he has the desire to completely give up smoking or coffee yet. He has this idea that if he indulges in all of it one last time, that he will be able to give it all up...we'll see how that goes. We also met with Eliza who is struggling with the same things. She's starting to progress though, and she no longer feels a need to drink coffee or tea (for now)! We have been weening her off of coffee by telling her to drink her favorite caffeinated soda. It seems to be working. One thing at a time!
Friday morning was so fun! Like the Dirty Dash, we volunteered for another 5K called, "Color me Rad" which entails everyone wearing white, and throughout the race, colored corn starch is thrown all over you. So cool! The actual race was Saturday, but Friday we helped sell merchandise and check people in/register. And we got a free shirt! Nothing beats a free shirt!
Because we volunteered Friday, we actually got to RUN the race Saturday morning (which is usually $50!). So crazy. We got to the Metra park at about 8:20AM wearing our button-up shirts, ties, and basketball shorts haha. I was also wearing Elder Brisco's shes that he left behind because I didn't want to get mine all colored. It turned out to be a bad idea because they were 2 sizes too big and hurt my ankles. But our whole zone was there. Before the race started, everyone (except us) was doing zumba, a push-up competition, and a costume contest. We actually got called up as part of the costume contest and got like no cheers haha! So the black guy announcing said, "Yo, if you don't cheer for these missionaries, they WILL come to yo house!" And then everyone cheered! So funny. I am so out of shape. But I got super colorful! My shirt was multi-colored and my face looked like a zombie. Basically people throw "color bombs" at you at certain checkpoints. And then afterwards, everyone got a free color bomb and gathered in front of the stage. When the beat dropped, everyone threw their bombs in the air and there was a huge cloud of color. We were going to stay afterward to help clean up (which was the point in going), but it turned into a club scene with bad music, immodesty, and immorality, so we left when the Spirit did. The lady in charge gave us free hoodies and shirts though!
That night, we got a call to go give a blessing to two new-born twins who were born a month pre-maturely and were in ICU. It was a Lamanite (native) family, which made it all the more cool and humbling. The babies' heads fit in my palm. There was something about just knowing that these babies were in God's presence less than a day ago that got to me. The Spirit was so strong. We picked up a new investigator on Saturday as well. His name is Mario! And he is on date to be baptized October 12. He plays baseball at the college here, has had the lessons before, and has lots of Mormon friends. He's read through Helaman already and feels like the church is true! He just needs a testimony if Joseph Smith. Be praying for him!
Sunday was good as always. The Lord's timing is always perfect. We were going down a list of less-actives, and came to a house where there was supposed to be two guys who could come to the single's ward. We saw someone walking their dog and that happened to be one of them, and the other one happened to be home visiting from out of town. We found out that the one walking the dog was just diagnosed with cancer. The mom told us their family is inactive, and didn't really have plans on becoming active again. Yet, both the son and the mother wanted Priesthood blessings. Elder Yeske sealed the son with cancer, and I sealed the mom. The son was actually promised in his blessing, that if he had the faith, his cancer would leave him, but it would also require the faith of the mother and family (part of the blessing given to the mom). So we will see what they do with it, but we both felt prompted to say he could be healed, if they basically exercise their faith by coming back to church and getting active. We'll see what they do with it.
Well that was my week! I got an interesting video of Alex (Inman) of his Elmo impression. He hasn't changed one bit haha so funny. Chloe and Kally are 7 now?! That's getting old! And Jesse is taller than Torie?! What the heck! I got his letter with the pictures from scout camp, he looks a little taller! I love you all, and hope you have a great week!
Color Me Rad Race in Billings
Elder Inman and Sister Smith
Elder Inman
Fake Tattoo
Elders Inman and Wade
Elders Inman and Wade, and Sister Gold