Week 86

I think that Crescent City has taken about 5-6 off of my lifespan. It's not a bad thing, however I am a little concerned that my hair might be completely gray and the stress may or may not cause me some heart problems. That being said, this was probably one of the most fun weeks that I've had in a loooooooooooooong time. We taught 17 lessons, had a baptism, and had 4 investigators in church. It started off great with dinner from Taco Bell on Monday (his wife was out of town and he thought that he had some bratwurst, but he really didn't. So tonight we are eating bratwurst with him!), followed by FHE with a less active family from Colombia, and then a sweet visit with a part member family and brother K. I don't know if I've told you guys, but the K's are kind of like my grandparents in Crescent City. It's funny because he is probably the most right winged conservative gun stocking food storage having old school prison guard sexist racist russelite alive, but hey! Charity is a real thing. Not to mention that three days last week there was a 100% chance of rain. I didn't even know that was possible! That means that there was no chance that it wouldn't rain! They must have had a freaking crystal ball or something!

On Monday night the ZL's came over to our pad. Since we live in a 2 man, they stayed with us from Monday night until Thursday afternoon, and we went on exchanges on Tuesday. Tuesday was a sweet day! Elder Ashton and I taught 4 lessons, one was a member present and Elder Payne and Elder Stoddard taught 2 lessons, with one member present. It was way sweet, we had a ton of fun. It made me really miss living with Elder Ashton in Vallejo! He and I go home together, we'll be right next to each other on the elevator ride down. I feel like a million funny things happened, but right now off of the top of my head I can't think of any. We had district meeting on Tuesday, and Elder Payne and I had to teach the Christlike attribute of obedience. And so we taught it, blah blah blah, and then we did practices. We split everyone up, Elder Payne and I observed. The practice was a comp inventory, one companion had to correct the other on something disobedient. The disobedient things were 

1. Listening to music in the car

2. Flirty texts

3. Sneaking out to meet with a girl from the Ward

It was so funny, by the end we were all in tears because we were laughing so hard. Definitely one of my favorite district meeting practices ever. 

On Wednesday something awesome happened while tracting. We were knocking doors in an apartment complex when the lady right next door to the door we tracted came out and started smoking. So we go up and introduce ourselves and she was so open and nice and prepared! She's had a pretty crazy and sad life, I don't really think it's important to write down everything, but she is a single mother of 2 kids and she really really needs the gospel. Since we weren't with a man we couldn't go in, but we went over the restoration, gave her the pamphlet, and set up a return appointment. We decided to continue tracting, and 3 minutes later she came out and asked if we had a bible. We then told her all about the Book of Mormon and gave one to her. She said "I feel like this book will really help me find some answers!" Well another cool story. Here in CC we go to a Chevron station where they pump your gas for you. We do that because a couple of less active members work there. Well in the same apartment complex as that last lady, we knock another door and this little kid with a superman shirt answers and we ask for his parents and so his mom comes to the door and who could it be but one of the non member gas pumpers! She was super nice and really interested, her husband wasn't home but we set up a return appointment on Wednesday with her. But wait- this little kid with the Superman shirt? Well right before we leave he asks us if we like Pokemon. I responded with the obvious answer "I LOVE Pokemon!" So he brings out a huuuuge binder with all of his Pokemon cards and needless to say we gained his trust and his mom's trust. So that was cool!

This week I finished the Book of Mormon for the third time in Spanish, which makes it official. I have read the Book of Mormon more times in Spanish than in English! And I'm going to try and do it one more time before I finish. Everyone has different study habits in the mission, but I find that 30 minutes in the Book of Mormon, 15 minutes in PMG, and 15 minutes reading conference talks or the Bible just gives me a ton of desire to share the Gospel, and not only that but it keeps me focused on the stuff that we have to teach. 

We had dinner with the bishop last night and he gave us 4 referrals, which is awesome, we definitely have his trust! And on Friday one of our members gave us some Elk Hamburger to take home, so I'll be cooking elk this week. 

Ok. Now for Saturday. When I say Saturday was sweet, I mean it was one of those days where the spirit is so powerful you can't really describe it. It was Grace's baptism! So bear with me while I try to keep this brief but detailed. Lindsey's dad (grace's grandpa) and 16 year old brother (grace's uncle) were there from Alaska, as well as a huge amount of active, less active, and non member family from all over! The spiritual mood was set when we ordained Richard, the 16 year old, to the office of Priest. As we got closer to three and as we were taking pictures we realized that the room with the font wasn't going to hold everyone. At 2:55 we made the decision to move everyone into the chapel for the program, and then we would move into the room with the font for the ordinance. The head count was 68-73 people depending on who was counting, so let's say 70 people were there. Grace was baptized by her uncle, and confirmed by her grandpa. We joined in on the circle. It was so spiritual, I love that girl like a little sister. It was such an amazing program. One of the best parts was Lindsey had a special musical number in the piano prepared, and Grace didn't know, so when Lindsey went up Grace was in shock. It was super cute. I really stink at explaining things, but let me just say that it was the such an awesome day, so full of the Spirit and not a single dry eye in the room as we watched. It was awesome, too because it was a classic case of member-missionary work. We didn't tract into the family. Last spring Lindsey had been praying to find a youth group for Grace that would help her become a woman and give her friends, and the next day the Relief Society President and the YW President came to the house to meet Lindsey and invite Grace to girl's camp. Grace went and had the best time, and we started teaching her shortly after that! At that point Lindsey received spiritual confirmation that the church of her childhood was where she wanted and needed to be, and Grace received her answer that she needed to be baptized. All we did was teach the lessons, but the members carried her all the way to baptism. Right now we are hoping that the rest of the family can follow shortly! It was just awesome. Since the program was so amazing, Brother Tinsley told us just to go to the bbq and take the night off. So we went to the bbq at the Barrett house, and let me just say that Darryl knows what he is doing! Best ribs ever. Just the best day, Grace was soooo happy and just everything was awesome. Definitely a testimony builder. There is nothing that is better than serving a mission, meeting new people you never would have met, and learning to love others. Especially since I never would have met that family had I not come to CC! And Brother Tinsley texted President Alba about how sweet the program and President was very excited. I decided I'm running for AP. AP Mufosta has a nice ring to it, right? Just kidding, I'm too punk rock for that anyway. 

There was a lot of other stuff that happened, but this is a long email, so I'll end it here. I love you guys! Have a good week!

Nick