WHATS UP FAM!!!
- I straight up deciphered a lock... We found an old bike lock in the apartment with a 4 letter code and I freakin got it. It was a complete and total guess but that's ok!!! ULegacy... Missionary work... When it comes to locks, we got this. #AchievementUnlocked
- during a lesson the persons phone goes off in the other room and it's the "mom mom ma ma mum mum mama mummy mama..." Ringtone from family guy. When it finishes I thanked Stewie Griffin for joining in on the lesson and then got back to being spiritual. They thought it was funny.
- helped move about a chord of wood on Saturday. Loaded up at this house in the mountains (it was heaven) then brought it back down in town. SOOO MUCH WOOD... Where's Michael Scott when you need him... But ya! Super fun day. Most of EQ showed up and it was a blast. We rode with Brother Meuchal and his wife and she said "this is a good song for missionaries" and turned up Tim McGraw for us. I wasn't gonna argue with the 1st counsellors wife! Timmy is more spiritually uplifting than the efy Mormon kids bop they make us listen to but maybe that's just me and Elder Christensen that think that. Really fun day.
- look out our window one day down onto Main Street and there was a beautiful Crimson Sting Ray chilling there... Between the cars in #HamTown and seeing Captain America civil war ads on cereal in the grocery store, the "lock your heart" talk is making quite a few appearances in my personal study's haha. Star Wars was one thing but I'm on a whole new level of nerd when it comes to Marvel.
- Been goin hard on the bikes and that's been a lot of fun. Spring time is unreal here, so pretty. Pretty good success biking, maybe it's cause we look like total goof balls and people aren't as intimated by us, but I'll take it. My bikes rear brake is about as effective as an offensive coordinator for Peyton Manning but I'm sure the pioneers would have loved to have a bike so I can't complain.
- Church was awesome as always. Freakin love the ward here. We got a s/o from the pulpit during sacrament meeting so that was nice.
Ya, pretty sweet week. Had two exchanges, felt like I wasn't even with Elder Metcalf at all this week which was super weird!
First exchange was with Elder Meinhardt and I freakin love him. We had so much fun. He's going home in a month and even though the exchange is meant for the zone leader to train the district leader he was teaching me the whole time. Such a good elder, down to earth and a straight up stud. Doesn't hurt he knows @TeamBetaAlpha so that's another reason why I like him. Most of the exchange He was asking about Zach and I's adventures so I told him about our operations... Carbon Freeze, Black Sabbath, Pharaohs Revenge, Silver Dove, Karp Yaw, and so on... and he wants to join in on some #StealthOps after the mission, in return he'll take me shed hunting. Love that guy, gonna be sad to see him go home.
Second exchange was to Billings to be with the assistants. Took us about 7 hours and that is one pretty drive. Got to see Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, and Billings all in one day so that was cool. Butte had a sweet Christ statue at the top of the mountain that reminded me of the one in Rio, that was my taste of being a cool South America missionary for the week. "Till we meet again" started playing on our usb as we drove past #BGrade and I may have a pulled a @pettbryan with my emotions. The exchange was awesome. Elder Topham and Elder Crane are total crack ups. They're apartment is 3 levels and sweeeet (not as cool as the camper trailer). I was with Elder Crane all Thursday and he taught me a lot. First time I ever served in Billings and it was a lot of fun. Spent most the day in trailer parks and put a family on date, pretty cool. Also met some 10 year olds and we taught them for a bit about God. I'm a lot better at teaching kids than adults haha. Made a new friend named Alejandra who didn't speak a lick of English but we still got the 10 commandment hand signals down with him.
Highlight of the exchange was our dinner. They had an investigator join us and he was an awesome guy. Currently homeless and looking to get back on his feet and wants God in his life. So he came along and guess where the dinner was... The Wadsworth's! We had to give president directions over the phone on where to go to pick him up and it reminded me of the time @pettbryan was lost in the suburbs of Phoenix and I had to guide him over the phone like Chloe O'Brien would with Jack Bauer. President never said "d*** it Chloe!" But it was still fun. President Wadsworth = @pettbryan.
Dinner was awesome, Sister Wadsworth made tacos and I haven't downed tacos like that since the "tak-o" nights with Jared in the bunker. She kept on telling me to eat more and I'm not about to tell the mission presidents wife no! The investigator was from the east so he and president and I were talking college basketball and sister Wadsworth thought I was from back east too #AchievementUnlocked #Nerd. Then president wanted our opinion on what a "chick flick" is. He claims Pirates of the Caribbean is because the guy gets the girl... Sister Wadsworth was a little frustrated that we all agreed with Pres. Then we got talkin about Sleep talking and I told them the proudest moement I had as a trainer was when Elder Christensen taught me about the first vision in his sleep. After dinner we taught a brief plan of salvation and I didn't choke like I did in basketball this morning so that was good (we were up 19-15 and ended up losing. Bro Poulson put 3 ice cold dagger 3's in my eyes #TingeyStatus) Really cool lesson, President and Sister Wadsworth taught with us and it was awesome.
Best part of the week was probs Saturday... CARSON'S BAPTISM!!! It was really neat. I got to speak on baptism and as mentioned last week... I knew I had to tie in Star Wars. Did your typical Holy Ghost baptismal talk then slowly retrieved a lightsaber from my bag. I asked him all about it and he impressed those attending with his Star Wars knowledge. I then tied it into that he has been trained and taught, now baptized, and now he has his lightsaber to go out and fight the real battles... But he has to always make sure he has his lightsaber with him. Sword of the spirit = lightsaber of the spirit.
It got pretty deep haha but that was the main part! I gave him the lightsaber and he asked if I'd sign it for him so I put the MP3 logo on there. Someday Carson will go on a mission and be that goof ball zone leader with a lightsaber in his suit case.
If we are using missionary terms I'm still a recent convert when it comes to Star Wars. So I thought it was a alright analogy.
We had a cool lesson with one of our investigators. Older guy who is struggling pretty bad with his health. We went to see him and he's been reading the Book of Mormon! We talked about the first few chapters and he's loving it. 3:7 where it talks about not being commanded for things we can't do really struck him as he wants to quit smoking. Spirit was Powerful in this lesson. He loves pictures so we showed him the pictures in the front and when he got to the one of Lehi and his family he said "what the hell is a liahona???"... Instantly thought of "who the hell is happy Gilmore". It was pretty funny, got me crackin up. We explained it to him and he thought it was sweet! He's a good guy.
To wrap it up I want to share with you something Elder Meinhardt and I talked about. I look up to that guy a lot, and I love getting advice from these elders who are about ready to hang it up. We had a good chat and he said "you get to the point where you know it's worth it." That has really stuck with me the past few days. I was with him and Elders Metcalf and Topham and Crane all this week and these are all elders who go home in the next few months while I'm not even halfway. Not exactly sure what it is, but they just "got it" when it comes to missionary work. I often wonder at what point that'll be me, where I "got it", and Elder Meinhardt hit the nail on the head. You get to the point where you know it's worth it.
Few weeks back I talked about those "highlight" moments as a missionary. Those moments I know that this is all worth it. But those days where crap hits the fan and you just feel like Rickey Bobby "I don't know what to do with my hands", hey, I can't honestly say that I sit back and think to myself "ya, this is worth it!" That's the difference, Elder Metcalf and these other Elders that are about done, it's like they have prestige'd in call of duty or something!!! Regardless what happens they still know it's worth it.
So that's what I'm working on. Getting to the point where you constantly know that this is worth it. Not that missionary work is about us, it isn't, but your ability to preach the gospel just notches up to a whole new level when you get there. I'm getting there too, for the most part I love it out here, I'm feeling pretty close to it. I think it just comes over time ( it takes longer for elders which is why sisters only serve for 18, that's my theory). But man, driving through Bozeman and seeing Belgrade last week gave me a boost. Not to sound too dramatic here but some of the hardest days of my life came in Belgrade, but driving past the Dirt road Elder Jaques and I would jog every morning during the trailer days, or burger Bob's, or the "ep-uh-scop-el" church, you realize it was worth it. Looking out to the mountains and seeing the Robison's home. You really know it was worth it. So grateful for those memories, I had no idea I would love it this much. Someday it won't just be looking back at Belgrade, it'll be looking back at it all. Gotta remember that, especially on those tough days. Someday I'm gonna look back and realize it was worth it.
- I straight up deciphered a lock... We found an old bike lock in the apartment with a 4 letter code and I freakin got it. It was a complete and total guess but that's ok!!! ULegacy... Missionary work... When it comes to locks, we got this. #AchievementUnlocked
- during a lesson the persons phone goes off in the other room and it's the "mom mom ma ma mum mum mama mummy mama..." Ringtone from family guy. When it finishes I thanked Stewie Griffin for joining in on the lesson and then got back to being spiritual. They thought it was funny.
- helped move about a chord of wood on Saturday. Loaded up at this house in the mountains (it was heaven) then brought it back down in town. SOOO MUCH WOOD... Where's Michael Scott when you need him... But ya! Super fun day. Most of EQ showed up and it was a blast. We rode with Brother Meuchal and his wife and she said "this is a good song for missionaries" and turned up Tim McGraw for us. I wasn't gonna argue with the 1st counsellors wife! Timmy is more spiritually uplifting than the efy Mormon kids bop they make us listen to but maybe that's just me and Elder Christensen that think that. Really fun day.
- look out our window one day down onto Main Street and there was a beautiful Crimson Sting Ray chilling there... Between the cars in #HamTown and seeing Captain America civil war ads on cereal in the grocery store, the "lock your heart" talk is making quite a few appearances in my personal study's haha. Star Wars was one thing but I'm on a whole new level of nerd when it comes to Marvel.
- Been goin hard on the bikes and that's been a lot of fun. Spring time is unreal here, so pretty. Pretty good success biking, maybe it's cause we look like total goof balls and people aren't as intimated by us, but I'll take it. My bikes rear brake is about as effective as an offensive coordinator for Peyton Manning but I'm sure the pioneers would have loved to have a bike so I can't complain.
- Church was awesome as always. Freakin love the ward here. We got a s/o from the pulpit during sacrament meeting so that was nice.
Ya, pretty sweet week. Had two exchanges, felt like I wasn't even with Elder Metcalf at all this week which was super weird!
First exchange was with Elder Meinhardt and I freakin love him. We had so much fun. He's going home in a month and even though the exchange is meant for the zone leader to train the district leader he was teaching me the whole time. Such a good elder, down to earth and a straight up stud. Doesn't hurt he knows @TeamBetaAlpha so that's another reason why I like him. Most of the exchange He was asking about Zach and I's adventures so I told him about our operations... Carbon Freeze, Black Sabbath, Pharaohs Revenge, Silver Dove, Karp Yaw, and so on... and he wants to join in on some #StealthOps after the mission, in return he'll take me shed hunting. Love that guy, gonna be sad to see him go home.
Second exchange was to Billings to be with the assistants. Took us about 7 hours and that is one pretty drive. Got to see Missoula, Butte, Bozeman, and Billings all in one day so that was cool. Butte had a sweet Christ statue at the top of the mountain that reminded me of the one in Rio, that was my taste of being a cool South America missionary for the week. "Till we meet again" started playing on our usb as we drove past #BGrade and I may have a pulled a @pettbryan with my emotions. The exchange was awesome. Elder Topham and Elder Crane are total crack ups. They're apartment is 3 levels and sweeeet (not as cool as the camper trailer). I was with Elder Crane all Thursday and he taught me a lot. First time I ever served in Billings and it was a lot of fun. Spent most the day in trailer parks and put a family on date, pretty cool. Also met some 10 year olds and we taught them for a bit about God. I'm a lot better at teaching kids than adults haha. Made a new friend named Alejandra who didn't speak a lick of English but we still got the 10 commandment hand signals down with him.
Highlight of the exchange was our dinner. They had an investigator join us and he was an awesome guy. Currently homeless and looking to get back on his feet and wants God in his life. So he came along and guess where the dinner was... The Wadsworth's! We had to give president directions over the phone on where to go to pick him up and it reminded me of the time @pettbryan was lost in the suburbs of Phoenix and I had to guide him over the phone like Chloe O'Brien would with Jack Bauer. President never said "d*** it Chloe!" But it was still fun. President Wadsworth = @pettbryan.
Dinner was awesome, Sister Wadsworth made tacos and I haven't downed tacos like that since the "tak-o" nights with Jared in the bunker. She kept on telling me to eat more and I'm not about to tell the mission presidents wife no! The investigator was from the east so he and president and I were talking college basketball and sister Wadsworth thought I was from back east too #AchievementUnlocked #Nerd. Then president wanted our opinion on what a "chick flick" is. He claims Pirates of the Caribbean is because the guy gets the girl... Sister Wadsworth was a little frustrated that we all agreed with Pres. Then we got talkin about Sleep talking and I told them the proudest moement I had as a trainer was when Elder Christensen taught me about the first vision in his sleep. After dinner we taught a brief plan of salvation and I didn't choke like I did in basketball this morning so that was good (we were up 19-15 and ended up losing. Bro Poulson put 3 ice cold dagger 3's in my eyes #TingeyStatus) Really cool lesson, President and Sister Wadsworth taught with us and it was awesome.
Best part of the week was probs Saturday... CARSON'S BAPTISM!!! It was really neat. I got to speak on baptism and as mentioned last week... I knew I had to tie in Star Wars. Did your typical Holy Ghost baptismal talk then slowly retrieved a lightsaber from my bag. I asked him all about it and he impressed those attending with his Star Wars knowledge. I then tied it into that he has been trained and taught, now baptized, and now he has his lightsaber to go out and fight the real battles... But he has to always make sure he has his lightsaber with him. Sword of the spirit = lightsaber of the spirit.
It got pretty deep haha but that was the main part! I gave him the lightsaber and he asked if I'd sign it for him so I put the MP3 logo on there. Someday Carson will go on a mission and be that goof ball zone leader with a lightsaber in his suit case.
If we are using missionary terms I'm still a recent convert when it comes to Star Wars. So I thought it was a alright analogy.
We had a cool lesson with one of our investigators. Older guy who is struggling pretty bad with his health. We went to see him and he's been reading the Book of Mormon! We talked about the first few chapters and he's loving it. 3:7 where it talks about not being commanded for things we can't do really struck him as he wants to quit smoking. Spirit was Powerful in this lesson. He loves pictures so we showed him the pictures in the front and when he got to the one of Lehi and his family he said "what the hell is a liahona???"... Instantly thought of "who the hell is happy Gilmore". It was pretty funny, got me crackin up. We explained it to him and he thought it was sweet! He's a good guy.
To wrap it up I want to share with you something Elder Meinhardt and I talked about. I look up to that guy a lot, and I love getting advice from these elders who are about ready to hang it up. We had a good chat and he said "you get to the point where you know it's worth it." That has really stuck with me the past few days. I was with him and Elders Metcalf and Topham and Crane all this week and these are all elders who go home in the next few months while I'm not even halfway. Not exactly sure what it is, but they just "got it" when it comes to missionary work. I often wonder at what point that'll be me, where I "got it", and Elder Meinhardt hit the nail on the head. You get to the point where you know it's worth it.
Few weeks back I talked about those "highlight" moments as a missionary. Those moments I know that this is all worth it. But those days where crap hits the fan and you just feel like Rickey Bobby "I don't know what to do with my hands", hey, I can't honestly say that I sit back and think to myself "ya, this is worth it!" That's the difference, Elder Metcalf and these other Elders that are about done, it's like they have prestige'd in call of duty or something!!! Regardless what happens they still know it's worth it.
So that's what I'm working on. Getting to the point where you constantly know that this is worth it. Not that missionary work is about us, it isn't, but your ability to preach the gospel just notches up to a whole new level when you get there. I'm getting there too, for the most part I love it out here, I'm feeling pretty close to it. I think it just comes over time ( it takes longer for elders which is why sisters only serve for 18, that's my theory). But man, driving through Bozeman and seeing Belgrade last week gave me a boost. Not to sound too dramatic here but some of the hardest days of my life came in Belgrade, but driving past the Dirt road Elder Jaques and I would jog every morning during the trailer days, or burger Bob's, or the "ep-uh-scop-el" church, you realize it was worth it. Looking out to the mountains and seeing the Robison's home. You really know it was worth it. So grateful for those memories, I had no idea I would love it this much. Someday it won't just be looking back at Belgrade, it'll be looking back at it all. Gotta remember that, especially on those tough days. Someday I'm gonna look back and realize it was worth it.
When we ate dinner in the mission home it was 9 months to the day that I had walked in there with my suit cases and wondering "what on earth did I just get myself into" but 9 months later I walk in and realize the last 9 months were worth it. How much I have changed in those 9 months blows me away and I still gotta lot to improve on. If you don't think the atonement is legit just do a comparison of me then and now haha.
My mind is everywhere on this one. Just working hard to getting to that point where regardless what happens, you always know it's worth it. I'll be real with ya, it's tough, but I want to get there, I never want to doubt it's not worth it, cause it is. Yes, I'm trenching through the pouring rain on a bike looking like a total goof ball while my family is chillin with the mouse but that's ok, cause for these 2 years it's worth it.
Love ya fam, church is true. We are gonna go hike to some lake now so I'll probably have to email y'all next week. Sorry!!! I read em all and I love em. Best family out there, family on 3.
- K
- I'm packing my sling shot in case we encounter a furry tractor #DefendTheZone... (Go YouTube "anchorman - furry tractor)
Pics:
The drive
Some trees and stuff
Sting ray <3
MA BOY CARSON!!! You might be able to see the drum and feather socks I wore in honor of the red & white game haha #UteProud
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