March 7, 2011

March 7, 2011

Dear family

Our Sabbath here in the upper western and mid western states was sure darn interesting and different. I don’t know if I told you all what was going on or any thing soo now you get the whole thing. Last week it was announced that a general authority would be joining us for our stake conference.  During the week it went around that it wasn’t just our Stake, it would be all of Minnesota, Iowa, Wyoming, and a few other states would also be having a general authority and it would be a broadcast, not a physical attendance. At the stake center every one or at least Elder Orton and I where excited to see who we would be hearing from.  It was Elder McCook, Mary McCook (not his wife. She is young womens something), some presiding bishop and than it was President Eyring.  It was super neat to be able to hear their words at another time of the year and not just the general conferences. The talks were around preparedness - like having a year supply of food, having money put way somewhere safe, having a temple recommend even if you can’t go, going to the temple - that’s the basics of it all. We didn’t have any investigators there but we did get a less active family there. That was the Rodriguez fam. They are Hispanic from Puerto Rico.

Elder Orton and I are getting a long just fine. He keeps on improving and we are unified, so it all is working out great :) well here is some thing funny about him  - the dork hid some of the teaching records of the investigators that they had. so that’s where all the investigators went. that dork! we had a little chat about it and this week will be a week of teaching instead of finding like the last 2 weeks ahaha.

Something funny I saw  ...  it snowed 3 more inches yesterday... does that count?? ;)  (I had asked him to share something funny that happened, I don’t think snowing counts!)

Lets see, so last week we got or maybe a few weeks ago we got anti-ed a lot.  This week was a try and convert us week.  The funnest part of that is on Saturday we had a Muslim tell us we need to ask Allah if what we are doing is right and if we are in the right church. He bore his testimony to us and said he would love to have their missionaries talk with us so we can have the real church in our lives. That was funny.

Something unusual to eat. nothing here. we only had one member dinner and that was ham and funeral potatoes. so all the other time I was eating rice.

Weeellll it’s been another great week of finding. On Monday we where knocking doors in this super nice area - like 3 story houses with 4 or 5 car garages, long heated driveways - it was ridiculous. But anyway, at the last door for the night a young teenager opens the door I start talking with him and 2 cops come cruzing around the corner lights going, crazy, the whole thing.  Elder Orton says you keep talking with him and I’ll talk with the cops.  I keep on contacting and the cops wanted to talk to me too. I give the kid a mormon.org card and turn to talk to the officers.  After taking our id's and like a 10 minuet interragation they let us go.  They said we were knocking doors past 8 ... I kid you not, no lie after all this happened and we were leaving we checked the time and it was 8:15.     oooo my goodness it was so dumb. like 5 minutes after 8 were we knocking doors. whatever though the church is still true.

Since we can’t knock doors though, it came to be a blessing later in the week.  We went by a less actives home who’s last name is Gutierrez.  She pulled us in and said I am only letting you in because it’s cold out side (it was like 20 degrees not cold at all).  Normally when that happens we get ripped on saying, they don’t want contact from the church or how they hate the church or what not. But she was fairly nice. She told us her life story and why she was less active. But said she was really glad we came by and she told us to come by again, but not too soon, so she can slowly figure her life out again and have the blessing of the temple again in her life... so defintely a blessing on both parts.

At some unmaintained townhomes on Friday in the more sketchy part of the neighborhood, I just about got hurt pretty good. There was a large over hang over the whole side of the home.  There were icicles hanging down and there was a truck parked underneath all the over hang and so was the door.  We laughed and talked about how jacked up the truck would be if the over hang fell off. I knocked the door, no answer. (standard is to always knock twice) I knock again and I decided to jump down off the stairs on to the pavement. As I hit the ground the over hang falls down... we both stood there in awe for a few minutes as the truck alarm was going off.  That was a really intense moment... (and so what happened?  He never finished the story!)

On Sunday, Curt Hugh I don’t know how to spell it, (after I thought about this, the man's name is Kent Pugh/Hugh) but he comes up to me and he says “Elder, you look like some one I know, tell me a little about yourself.”  I told him the standard - Arizona, Tucson, I have been out for a 6 months and then I told them your and dads names and where you're from. Then he said, “Yup I know you, you are a Haws. I taught your mom (really it was Sug) and Willis  and some of the other haws kids in seminary at Round Valley.”  He told me to send his regards. He is now the temple president of the Oakdale (which is actually called the Minnesota St. Paul) temple. He said Elder Orton and I should talk to President Howell and go by and talk with him sometime in the temple. soo we got a free in there. Thank goodness the haws kids weren't to crazy back in the day ;)  (thank you Willis and Sug for being a good example in high school, good thing he didn’t know me back then!)

I think I have given you some back round on the picture waiting to push cars up that darn hill in front of our appt.  We may get to do the same thing tomorrow and Wednesday.  Another huge blizzard is supposed to be coming this way.

well till next week

love

elder b