What's
up FAM!
I'm
staying in #HamTown for 6 more. Elder Metcalf is out and Elder Wells is in. He
came out a little before and me and is from AF and we bro-hugged each other last
transfer day in Helena and he's pretty tall and a stud ball player... That's
about all I know! Extremely grateful for my time with Elder Metcalf and the things he
taught me, really gonna miss him! Grateful I get to serve and learn from
another experienced elder this next transfer. Adventure is out there.
Last weeks adventures:
-
capped off preparation day last week with Moose Creek BBQ. Decided after we put
down 12 oz of meaty excellence topped with grilled onions and jalapeños we
better do some physical activity so we were chompin through the rain on our
bikes. IT WAS COMIN DOWN!!! Thanks to 12 weeks with Elder Christensen, I
have a new love for puddles. Super fun, completely soaked. That UA rain
gear is beaut. Utah - Michigan 2014, Trek to Quest in Disney World, and now
missionary work. We have been through it all.
-
also decided to start a new hashtag... #MyRearBrakesAreAffectiveAs...
Send in
any ideas.
-
District Meeting was a good one. Last one of the transfer. YW's were cooking
something and the whole church smelt like onions. During the entire district
meeting I was saying "it's quite pungent... It stings the
nostrils..." But no one caught on so that was a little sad. We had a little
testimony meeting at the end and it was nice. The sisters thanked Elder Metcalf
and I for always being so "official" and I'm thinking in my mind how
I have Optimus Prime and Bumblebee at my personal study desk and how I've been
quoting Anchorman during the entire District Meeting but I'll take it!
#Banked3Pointer
-
Missions teach you a lot... Including how to be easily entertained. During the
District Meeting break, Elder Angle and I made up a new game where we kick rocks into
a certain area of the parking lot and who ever does it in the lesser amount of
kicks wins. Golf/soccer/Rock = SocckeGrolf. Straight up considering playing it
for preparation day.
- Went biking
and we see this sweet old lady sitting on a chair outside. We yell to her and
she responds back "good and how are you doing?" Except it sounded
more like "goot und hov are du doing". #SprechenSieDeutsch???
That German accent got me to slam on my front breaks.
#MyRearBreaksAreAffectiveAs.....
@pettbryan at the free throw line.
----
And we get talking to her. Really sweet, elderly German lady. VERY German too.
Moved here 3 years ago from Deutschland. Lost her husband around that time too.
Really cool talking about eternal families and Christ with her. Very religious
and she was excited to start reading the Book of Mormon so we will see where it
goes! Can't wait to show her a President Uchtdorf Mormon message.
#CelestialLanguage
- go
to some apartments to drop off a Book of Mormon. As we pull up on our bikes we
notice the kid who LOVES to play tag with us is playing out in the field, same
10 year old that raced us the night of the taser incident. He has lots of
energy and was wearing a Pikachu hat and we would've loved to play tag... But
we had a lesson we had to get to and there's no way we could leave to that
lesson if one of us was "it" so we needed a smooth way out that
didn't involve him tagging us.
*I
turn to Metcalf and whisper "bogey in the weeds 30 yards out, on your
6"
*Metcalf
turns to gain a visual
*I
say "place the BoM, shoot the gap" and nod towards the path that leads
us back into the clear
*Book
of Mormon is placed
*we
shoot the gap
*wild
Pikachu comes at us from the tall grass
*make
it out without being tagged.
*We
get to our next appointment on time.
#AchievementUnlocked
-one dude opened the door buck nude waist down. #Tracting🚜💨
-
Went back to see our Marvel friend. We nerded out BIG time again. Funny guy, he
knows his stuff. I still have my heart locked towards the MCU so don't worry.
We also got into Pixar conspiracy theories, I'm a total nerd. Going back next
week to teach the whole family, pumped for that. Good family.
- we
had some 9 year olds making fun of us while we were on our bikes. That was
degrading. Freakin 9 year olds. I was contemplating drop kicking one.
#MeanManPuntedBaxter
- LEMONADE
STAND. Super fun. We met one guy who was just awesome. Grew up not exactly
living the gospel, went to jail and found God while he was there and completely
turned his life around. Amazing story. Shared with him the story of Alma the
Younger and he thought the similarity was cool. We acknowledged we had
different beliefs, but we had a good time sharing views and talking about our
Savior. Before he left he said "we're both gonna make it to Heaven and we
are gonna fish out of the golden rivers together when we do". #ImDown. His
testimony actually really helped me later that day. We ran into some Anti
Mormon jerks that night. Won't go into detail what was said. But I was feeling
off. This one guy was evil, we'll leave it at that. But the testimony of a Born
Again Christian I met at a lemonade stand earlier that day is what strengthened
us after that experience. We're all on the same team when it comes to Christ.
Can't wait for those golden river fishing trips.
-
also had some members in the other ward come by and tell us they wish they had
elders rather than sisters... I tell you this cause it's made pretty clear
since day 1 in the mtc that it goes..
-
sisters
-
senior couples - 50 foot pile of dog crap
🐶💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩💩
- elders
and
even though that's true and I completely agree it still touched our hearts that
someone would want elders.
-
biked Satan Summit directly after downing 2 burgers and brownies and ice cream.
I thought I was gonna die.
-
basketball was super fun this week. Koerner boys came and played (they are 14
and 9 I think) and they are gonna be good ball players. I teamed up with them
and we played Bro Poulson, Cheese Pizza, and Metcalf. Lots of fun. Back home I
usually left all the shot blocking to Elder Boyd but I had a nasty block on
Cheese Pizza... It was bad. Kind of like the block Billy Madison had on the
first grader. #CallMeRudy. I love Cheese, we found out he wasn't going to
seminary regularly till we started playing ball with him. That was a nice bit of
news hearing we are helping a youth get to seminary. Especially considering I
was once compared to Satan in a Sacrament Meeting talk because I tempted someone
to go to Italian Village instead of seminary... @TeamBetaAlpha threw me under
the bus in front of his entire ward but we still graduated AND got a pizza
bender #AchievementUnlocked.
-
biking one day and we meet this awesome old guy finishing a giant bear carving!
It was sick. This guy was hilarious, total jokester. Picture Jourdan Nichols at
age 75. I asked what the name of the bear is and he told me we could pick. This
is obviously a big decision so we are going back Tuesday and will also share
the gospel then too. I'm thinking we name him "Brick" in honor of
Brick Tamland. (YouTube "anchorman furry tractor")
- Oh
ya. So Doug (kid we met at last lemonade stand) is on baptismal date. Had a
sweet lesson with him at the church. Only thing is he is in Corvallis
boundaries so those elders will now teach him. Elder Stockton and Elder Nash
dish out one last assist to the zone.
-
dinner at the Dickemores. BIG basketball family, love them! 10 year old had a
shirt that said "basketball is my girlfriend" #GOALS. They were
trying to recruit me to work for USU.
-
Alright this probably won't make the blog but I gotta throw it in here haha. so
that one lady who flips us off every time we go to the motel to see Greg took
it up a notch and yelled a not nice word followed with "... You
Mormons!" And I busted up laughing... Again... And she wasn't happy I
thought it was funny... Again. Not sure what we did to her but it cracks me
up.
-
met a family that are refugees from Africa. They have 3 young kids that are so
dang cute. They accepted a Book of Mormon and picture of Christ, we'll see
where it goes.
-
used Kaelin Clay's ball drop in a lesson on repentance! It was sweet, we were
talking about how beating ourselves up won't do much after we mess up. Told them
how the team responded by supporting Kaelin. Certainly not the brightest moment
of the season, that following week every touchdown in practice the ball was to
be handed to the ref, but they learned from the mistake and moved on. Next game
Clay catches OT touchdown and we win at The Farm against Stanford.
#ChurchIsTrue #LightTheU
- dinner with The Bishop and his family. The Hawkes are straight up #goals. Awesome family. We were talking about roller coasters and I told them about Expedition Everest, Rockin Roller Coaster, Space Mountain Mission II, all that fun stuff. Gracie, Natalie, and Cash want to come on our next Disney World trip, so just a heads up on that mom and dad. Got a verbal commitment they'll do Summit Plummet too. Cash (around 1 first grade) said he's worried he'll scream like a girl and I told him he's obviously never seen me go down Summit Plummet.
-
more service at the old Montana farm home. So much fun. We spent the first bit
eating fried chicken and fetch with the dogs and holding their baby bunnies. It
was awesome. Their 3 dogs are so much fun!!! The golden retriever jumped on me
with a log in its mouth and drilled ground zero from the Tickcident a few weeks
back. It's been a rough transfer for that region of my body. Also caught a duck
with my bare hands! It tried to escape but not quite fast enough. #LockDown. I
propose we name him Vernon Adams... #ShotsFired
-
Interviewed a 9 year old girl for baptism! Super cool. She is what I picture
Diz will look like when she grows up.
- We
were invited to talk with the youth last night at a stake priesthood night and
that was a big eye opener that all this "I'm a missionary" stuff...
Is real. You grow up knowing a mission is 2 years, well It's not "2
years" anymore it's less than that, which is kind of sad. Pretty cool
talking to these young men and seeing my self 8 years ago. Shared with them my
Avengers/NBA All Star Team/Jedi/ (whatever else appeals to young priesthood
holders...) Theory and I think they liked it. I'll share it some other time in
a separate spiritual rant. It was a good night, gosh I wanna teach mission prep
when I'm home haha.
It
was a good week. Lots of little miracles that make you step back and see how
cool it is to be a missionary. You got the miracles and the "Imma keep it
real with ya" sections of these emails... just know being a missionary is
awesome. That's something I never thought I'd say so I have either been
straight up brain washed or I gotta testimony of this gospel and sharing
it.
A lot of the people we teach probably won't be getting baptized any time soon,
but they're making progress to coming closer with their Savior and that is
something special to be a part of. It's an eternal process. We had a lesson with
Dave this week and it was so neat. I've mentioned earlier he has pretty rough
health, and we went over and he had questions about the next life. Read out of
Alma where it says our bodies will be restored and you could see it in his eyes
how much comfort that brought to him. Experiences like that are tough to beat.
I love Dave. I mentioned a while back the "inches" Uvid and Charity
comparison, and I can say I'd go that inch for Dave. He looks out for us, he
gives us Hawaiian Punch after we have biked for a few miles to go see him, he
stands up for us when most of that trailer park hates us (nearly had it one
time this week but then I remembered A. I'm a representative of Christ and need
to turn the cheek and B. That man is 3x my size and 90% chance he has a gun)
but ya, Dave looks out for us! I love him. Metcalf and I would do anything for
him, and I know Dave would go that inch for us too.
It's
bringing souls closer to Christ and uniting families for eternity. Helping
others find peace through the atonement. And if they are ready, getting them into
the waters of baptism. It's so much more than I ever thought it'd be.
Coolest
part of it all is going back to what Brother Pederson said, that everywhere around
the world the same message is being shared. Just like The United Together
Eternal Soldiers scripture in Mosiah...
"they
should look forward with one eye, having one faith and one baptism, having
their hearts knit together in unity and in love one towards another."
It's
uniting all of us. "One heart beat" as Coach Whitt would say.
Grateful I can do this work and for all my friends doing this work and the
example they are. I get that Montana is a lot closer than South America or
Sweden... But I'm perfectly fine with it. It's beaut here. So sweet we are all
doin this work.
It's
easy to imagine where I'd be back home had I kept on with work and school or
hanging out with my fam, whatever it may be, but what I can't imagine is what
my life would be like without these last 10 months on a mission. I love it. I
love the challenge. It's an adventure and I'm hyped for this next adventure
with Elder Wells and all I can learn from him. The wilderness must be
explored.
I'm sad
to see Elder Metcalf leave, he may have never farted in front of me, but we had a
brotherhood together. I said it since we first joined up... Kennedy was his Qui
Gon and he was the Obi Wan to my Anakin. Pleased to report we ended our
training without me limbless on a lava beach. He taught me a lot on zone
leadership and I'm grateful for the diligence, humility, and obedience he
instilled into me. We're going to be tight after the mission. #AutoBotsRollOut
-Elder K
--- s/o to my boy elder Christensen whose birthday is this week. Love ya bro. Those 12 weeks in #BGrade I'll never forget ;)
PICS
*sweet
pic of a hoop
*
got this cool pic of Dave looking through my quad while I looked through his
bible from when he was a kid. It was a sweet lesson. He had the classic rock on
low volume, it was beaut.
*
district pics
*
basketball soccer dog again
*
saw like 6 corvettes during the lemonade stand. welcome to #HamTown.
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