- Got together for a zone preparation day last week. Started with Naps Burgers and ended with pod ball at the stake center. What better way to unify a zone than each downing 12 oz of meaty excellence and then playing the Mormon version of hunger games??? It's a good zone. Fun, humble, obedient, all of that. Wells and I lucked out, not much for us to do other than keep up with em! #ZoneOfEnoch
- Dinner at the Jessop's. We sat outside and ate while they were watching game 7 up stairs. Wells and I are learning a good lesson about self discipline right now.
- during our ZLC Wells compared our area to a 9 month pregnant woman that is about to "explode". Never heard that term used with giving birth but it does describe our area pretty well.
- Cruising #HamTown one night and saw a Dominos worker was stuck in a irrigation ditch. We jump out to see if we can help. 10 minutes later 3 cars are pulled over and we are having a good old red neck'n party to see how we are gonna get this truck out without using a chain or tow cable. Please just try to picture this, 2 dudes in shirt and tie, a Dominos worker, PO'd Dominos manager, a guy and his girlfriend, and some dude from Texas... For those of you that have seen Thor, it reminded me of the scene where all the red necks are gathered trying to pull the hammer out. After some heated Ford vs Chevy debates (#BowTieTillIDie) we come together and decide on an attack strategy. We end up putting a tire between the front of one truck and on the front of the stuck truck and drove it out while we were on the back bouncing. We get done and the guy says "THIS HOW RED NECKS DO IT!!!"
*high fives all around*
*couple cuss words are thrown in also*
*beers are offered*
*more high fives*
--- Become an Honorary Redneck ---
- #AchievementUnlocked -
Turns out the Dominos worker was a less active not in our records... Lord works in mysterious ways. #ChurchIsTrue
- Elder Wells was twerking during companionship study... I don't even know where to begin describing our companionship.
- I have come to the conclusion we have the best mix tape that is possible for missionaries. It is about as fire as you can get while still living in harmony with the standards in the missionary hand book. We have one song from a missionary instrumental album, straight up sounds like something you would hear in Batman, it's borderline Hans Zimmer. "Masters Hand" go check it out. Well one day Wells goes to turn it on and is like "what's the scenario..."
*we are following Brother Smith to go help a widow in a nursing home for home teaching.
I say "we are following Brother Smith into the zombie war zone. The cure is in the back. We know once we deliver it we won't make it out alive"
*Reading about Ammon cutting off arms is great and all but when the Book of Mormon is the only bit of action we get to entertain ourselves with for 2 years you gotta use your imagination sometimes.
***if you knew Brother Smith this makes it even better cause this man is prepared for all types of disaster and knows his stuff and I could genuinely see that scenario happening one day. Imma hit him up when the world is ending cause he gon know what to do.
Back to the story... #AutoBotsRollOut
So we get driving... Cruising at a steady 25 mph through #HamTown... Our truck is bumpin... I can picture Bruce Wayne talking about the restored gospel... This song is getting us hyped... Pure instrumental inspirational gold... We are freakin nerds but we don't care! And I look over at Wells and see a big fat wet tear come out from under neath his aviators and it rolls down his cheek. He has a true gift of fake crying whenever he wants and this was just too perfect. I don't know if I have ever laughed so hard in my life. Kind of ruined the moment but I couldn't contain myself.
- went to a little league baseball game to watch one of our investigators #Dingers. The mom is pretty open with us so that's good, the husband hates us with a burning passion which is a little sad but we'll see what happens!
- walking Main Street one day. We get about 10 minutes in and I say to Wells "kind of disappointed no one has yelled at us that we are a cult... Wells - "or that we hail Satan"...
Fam... No joke... NO FREAKIN JOKE... Not even 2 seconds go by and some punk is half outside his car window with his arm outstretched yelling "Hail Satan". Greatest moment of my life. #ChurchIsTrue.
- Elder Mikkelson took off for the Netherlands and we got a new visa waiter this week. Elder Kellogg from Sandy goin to Manchester, England. He likes BDubs so we automatically became best friends. Super fun getting these visa waiters for a few months. We drove to Butte to pick him up so Wednesday was about a 7 hour adventure in the car, pretty fun. We jammed hard. Pretty drive too, summertime is unreal up here.
- saw the WVU EQ truck while on the drive. Even if I can't watch College Football it still gave me butterflies thinking of what starts in 3 months.
- mama J has started saying "Achievement Unlocked". #AchievementUnlocked
- went and dug holes with Brother Howard. 60+ holes. #ElderYelnats (if you get that reference I'll be impressed). Super fun, we went hard. Had a blister form and the skin flapping everywhere got annoying so I got the grand idea to rip it off and that wasn't too bright so I currently have quite the raspberry on my hand but church is still true. It has roughly 3 hours to heal till zone Pod ball starts today. It was so much fun, Bro Howard is a total crack up, he lives in a house full of girls so I think he enjoys having us over lol. He told us he has a PHD... In... Post Hole Digging... I love his humor. We were singing classic rock the whole time. Good times.
- So we are at a dinner one night and this family pours us a cup of Coke... 2 problems, 1. We are strictly a No caffeine mission 2. I'm going 2+ years strong of no soda. We don't want to sound ungrateful so Wells and I look at each other like "now what".
--- background story, few years ago Jason Kidd (head coach of the Brooklyn Nets) needs some time to draw up a play but doesn't have a time out... He walks over to a player and says "bump me." And spills his water on the court so they have to clean it up and he has time to draw a play.
- Wells and I are pretty unified in our sports knowledge so I figured he remembers this... So I hold my cup up and whisper to him "bump me" and we both bust up right there at the dinner table. We are nerds.
- we were walking this neighborhood and got straight up ambushed by a bunch of 10 year olds with Nerf guns. I'm all "oh that's fun, I remember these days.." Then one yells "AIM FOR THE HEADS!" This was no little prank, they were out for blood, freakin little monsters . Then they followed us for like 10 minutes and continued to torment us and I was about ready to do something not very Christlike but didn't want to have to explain to President Wadsworth and/or the police why I drop kicked a 10 year old and throat chopped another with a Book of Mormon. They were ruthless, name calling and everything. Felt like the scene in Step Brothers. They challenged us to basketball so Wells and I will not hold back at all when that goes down. We already know they are gonna be throwing cheap shots so it'll be like like playing a bunch of miniature Jackson Emery's but there will be no mercy.
- Warners moved into a new house. We stopped by to check it out and this obviously led to a nerf war. Bro Warner (ex-military, total stud, reminds me of Kurt) vs the elders, the 10 year old girl, the 2 year old girl, and the mom. Brother Warner wrecked us. As acting director of field ops for @TeamBetaAlpha I took point for the alpha squadron and was a little disappointed in myself but this is Brother Warner we are talking about... He went full Jack Bauer on us. Crouch running and everything. I was taking cover behind a chair, ran out of ammo, he notices this and comes running in with ZERO intent of showing mercy... Shoots the 2 year old, pumps foam into my skull, finds the other daughter behind the couch, then takes out everyone else. He claims he is an oversized child... He is #Goals. He loves being the scout master cause "Scouting is a perfect excuse to do stupid stuff..." We love that family lol. He said the real secret is finding a girl who will not only put up with your childish ways but that will jump in on the Nerf war too. #ChallengeAccepted
Ya, pretty sweet week. We gave quite a few blessings to members, less actives, and investigators and that's always special. Turns out one less active member, Sam, (native American wise gentleman) has a connection with a young family we are teaching. Pretty cool seeing how things fall into place. That family just had a baby girl born and they were so excited to tell us, it's cool being a part of these families regardless if they join. Coach gave some good advice to us this week and said to simply go out and try and help people be happy, then the rest will fall into place. That's been our focus and it's working for us.
I'm loving this right now. This is fun. Wells and I are in a straight up bromance... No shame in admitting that. We have fake arguments with each other kind of like Jared and I's fake marriage fights in the bunker. We sing Katy Perry... We quote movies. We try to stay on task in companionship study but in all honesty it usually leads to what could be a ESPN-radio podcast. We act like we know what we are talking about but in reality we probably have no clue cause we are so out of the loop. So much fun. The Utah - BYU smack talk is heating up... We keep it pretty civil but we have a good time joking around...
*trying to convert each other*
"You're gonna become a cougar Pett, no one ever thought Anakin would join the dark side"
"No one ever thought Kyle Whittingham would have 5 straight W's against his alma mater either..."
- *buying body wash Wells - "maybe you won't smell like a drunk Ute anymore"
- *walking back into the apartment and Wells shuts the door before I walk in
"Hey Wells... That was kind of like the time the big 12 shut the door on BYU"
- Best is church. Lots of Aggies. Heaths are my go to family with the Utes. Bishop is an Aggie and he was firing shots, Bro Heath was firing shots in ward council. Even the youth is getting into it. Typically if there is one thing a Ute and an Aggie will agree on its how we feel about the other school in the state.
It's nonstop #ShotsFired but oh man we have fun with it. Well's respects the scoreboard, I respect Kalani, we both agree Bronco was a tool so we are pretty good with it. We are hoping we are with each other in September. In terms of spirituality we are pretty good too, the unity is there and it's fun doing missionary work when you have that unity. We are already planning on playing cod and having #ZoneOfEnoch reunions at BDubs. He also wants to come to our families Bachelor viewing parties. It's a bromance. #NoRegrets.
Ward bonfire was another big highlight of the week. We were planning on wearing our church clothes but mama J said to wear casual clothes and the last time I went against what mama J said... I was fortunate to live ... Ok not that dramatic but still... #TickFromHell #DontUseTweezers. We pull up and jump out and it honestly felt like we were at a family reunion. Not to mention this place was heaven, so pretty. We chilled with the youth most of time... Katy Perry sing off's... Skipping rocks... Disney charades... Reminded me of hanging out with all the little cousins! I turned down bishops offer for a hot dog cause the Meuchals were feeding us... He says "Well why don't you go drink a warm glass of shut the heck up Pett". That's mine and bishops relationship for ya lol, quoting Happy Gilmore at a ward bonfire, Austin Powers on splits, and Dumb and Dumber in ward council. I loved that night, it's a family here and I couldn't ask for a better place to be serving a mission.
The funeral for Sister Matson was Saturday morning and that was really special. An amazing spirit was present and it was a beautiful day to celebrate the life of Sister Matson. Someone mentioned how she once used Cam Newton and Peyton Manning in a sacrament meeting talk. I didn't even realize that was her, That was my first Sunday in #HamTown back in February and I still remember how much I loved that talk, I think I even mentioned it in my weekly email. I loved getting to hear about her life. Bishop Hawkes read a Facebook post from my mom during his closing remarks and it felt like my family was there too. I love this ward so much.
These experiences in life are the ones that really test your testimony. Is it all true or is it just stories I'm going around telling others for 2 years??? And fam, These last 11 months have really strengthened my testimony that it is real. Never would I have thought I'd have a testimony of this gospel like what I have now. And if it is real, if all this is actually true, then just TRY to comprehend what it means... We have a Savior who can walk us through our hardest days. We have scriptures that we can study. We have a modern day prophet to lead us in a world that is straight up filthy. And my personal favorite, We know we can be with our family forever because of the priesthood power that has been restored and the Temples that we have here on earth to do those sealing ordinances. Seriously try to comprehend all the doors this gospel unlocks.
Even with that knowledge and testimony, we still have hard days and go through trials. Alma 37 is one of my go to chapters for tougher days, I call it the @pettbryan -> @MPett3 chapter as it is the chapter where Alma is giving advice to his son Helaman. Verses 36-37 have been on my mind a lot this week, it says we need to cry unto God for support... Everything we do needs to be towards the Lord.... Everywhere we go needs to be for the Lord... We need to counsel with the Lord... Have All our thoughts... All our affections... Everything we do towards the Lord. And in return... "He will direct thee for good". I have only been a part of this Hamilton family for a short time, but I know Sister Matson did each of those. Despite only knowing her for a short time, I want to be more like her.
A year ago legacy was the only thing on my mind... Ask the fam, I was goin hard on ULegacy... and A year later legacy is still on my mind... Just in a different way. Sister Matson left a legacy of love, service, and joy. That legacy was in Hamilton, Murray, and wherever she went. It's hard directing everything you have towards to the Lord, I'm still trying to do it, but the more and more I learn about her I know she is the prime example of that selfless love. And I know the Lord is guiding her and her family right now and as Alma 37 promises he is directing her and her family for good.
It's not always easy to, but sometimes you just gotta step back and look at the big picture of this gospel and all it offers. Step away from the rush of being "Mormon" or being a "missionary" and all the things we think we HAVE TO DO... And look at the eternal perspective. We came here so we can learn and grow then we return back home to our Heavenly Father and help others get there along the way. It's that simple. I can't wait for when we are all united together in the next life, it's gonna be a party, eternal best friends like my mom said... And that's gonna be a good day. And if you want to join in on Bro Pederson and I "eating Naps burgers off of trees while walking around like a naked deer in the forest" then you are welcome to do that also. #CelestialGoals
I love it family, I love doing this. Words don't do it justice. Wells and I are bros, this ward is my family, #HamTown is home to me. It's a little weird when members of your ward are more tight with your family than they are with you but it's been a unifying experience. So many families and experiences that have helped me see what this gospel is all about. These last 11 have forever changed my life. Couldn't ask for a better mission and people to serve with and I'm so happy Montana is so close to Utah and also relieved that I didn't find a tick on my crotch after the ward bonfire.... #SorryMom.
--- I have to make sure I have at least one "#SorryMom" in there ---
Love ya.
- Elder K
*shout out to Z for winning the stick horse race for the second year straight. #SpeedKills #Dynasty
*happy birthday to the leprechaun (Elder Lightfoot) down in Tennessee. #IronShamrock #MarshmallowPower
PICS
- Ward Bonfire. You better believe I'll be coming up for that event in future summers.
- ma boy Anthony Equatore... He's got that fire in his EYES!!! The Equatore's are my boys. They remind me of all the younger siblings in the Riverview Ward I got tight with cause everyone in my age group was on missions.
- Gracie Hawkes photo bomb. We played the hand slap game and she wrecked me. She's like a miniature 12 year old female version of bishop, it's terrifying. Super fun tho haha.
- some of the youth. It's a good group. Christine is making us pancakes today and I'm pretty hyped about that. #ILoveFood
- welcome to the valley Elder Kellogg. #ZoneOfEnoch
- #FamilyGoals. Please just take time to acknowledge how hard core they take Nerf wars. The 2 year old is even going hard with the automatic assault rifle.
- we had the window rolled down and a bee nearly flew in but we rolled it up in time and it was possibly the scariest moment of my life watching that window slowly roll up. I don't think you'll ever hear Wells and I scream like that again.
- #WelcomeToMontana street contacting
- The greatest tie ever. Since day 1 I have been telling Brother Meuchal how sweet his gun tie is and yesterday after church he handed it to me. I look up to him like a dad, one of those families I'm gonna be tight with for a long time.
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