We also received a bounteous donation of
food from the ward as you can see laid out on our counter top. We got all the
leftovers from a baby shower this week. Interestingly enough, despite Elder
Nowland being low on money, he ate almost none of the food we were given but
instead chose to eat from his meager supply. Sometimes, I just don't
understand. This week was a tough one, that's for sure. Mostly because it was
tough for Elder Nowland. And if your companion is not having a good day,
chances are, you won't either. Just as a positive attitude rubs off on people,
so does a negative one. We had to drop Jaime and Flora this week. They're
avoiding us now. Who knows why. But enough of all the doom and gloom. Let me
now tell you about the good from this week :)
Tuesdays
we had exchanges and I had Elder Mitchell come over to Artesia, while I sent
Elder Nowland with Elder King in Carlsbad. I thought it would afford him a
stress-free day being out of the area and being with a great missionary like my
trainer. In the evening before we headed back we stopped by Sonic for some
milkshakes because after 8, all milkshakes are half-price. It was a good
choice. Ice cream always lightens one's spirits.
Ryan
has been doing really well this week. It was his 4th Sunday at church in a row.
He has been reading the Book of Mormon, and we have been working with him to
quit smoking. At the end of one of our lessons this week he wanted to show us
his guitar real fast, so we said sure. Ryan is really good at it, and played
"More than a feeling" by Boston for us. Then Elder Nowland had to
take a jab at it, but he wouldn't look at the camera as you can see. Ryan met
the stake president this week too at ward conference, and talked to him about
getting general conference tickets. lol. Ryan is obsessed with Utah. That is
for sure.
Last
night after a hot day we were walking home through the park and saw that some
sprinklers were on. We decided that we had to walk through them and cool off.
It was great.
 |
|
Superman
dumpster.
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Friday
was one of the best days we've had. We set 3 baptismal dates! One was with
Cassy, who is the step-daughter of a member here. We had just found her out in
the street though. She had a date for the 6th of September, but she ended up
having to work on Sunday (would you guess that she works at Sonic? haha) so we
will have to push her date back. She is awesome and we are also teaching her
brother Michael and her daughter Myra who is 8 along with her. Pray for them,
that the other half of the family which is Catholic will not anti them or
influence them poorly.
The
other baptismal dates we set were with Craig and Barbara. Oddly, Craig texted
us last night and told us he didn't want us to come by anymore. We were
confused, and so we called him twice right after we got the text. He didn't
answer. Chicken. Barbara seemed super interested though, so we are going to see
if we can still keep teaching her or something. Anyway, that's our
investigators for the week :)
This
week was definitely really hard. But, we also saw some amazing miracles. With
the bad, there is always good. There must needs be opposition in all things.
Read 2Nephi2 and you cannot deny that. On a closing note, they are splitting
the Roswell and Lubbock stakes and by doing so creating a third stake. In
church there were about 120 people. In Sunday school we were watching a video
of Thomas S Monson and the gravity of him being a prophet just hit me. It was
like a spiritual smack in the face. Wow. That was great. I DO KNOW that he is a
prophet of God and that he is leading the church of Jesus Christ on the earth
today. I love you mom! I love you dad! I love you Courtney! I love you Meagan
(and I hope my letter home made it there)!
