Ok, before I tell you about how this week went, let me get some things out of the way, happy very early birthday to Uncle Jesse! Your birthday falls on a day before next p day, so... Happy Birthday. I'm going to start wishing people happy birthday at the beginning of these things now. Adds character. Also, transfer news: me and Elder Durrant will be staying in the Kaneohe 4th ward together for at least 6 more weeks. The volcano continues to erupt on the big island, nowhere near where I am, but send your prayers to those whose homes have been consumed if you feel so inclined.
With that out of the way-here's the summary.
This week started out as one of the most powerful (and scary) of my entire mission. As you may already know, Elder Jeffrey R Holland of the quorum of the twelve apostles visited the mission on Tuesday, and for those of you that didn't already know about that.... Surprise... I guess. Anyway, he showed up, but he wasn't alone. Turns out elder David A Bednar was there too. Now let me tell you I wasn't expecting that one. See I've always loved the twelve apostles, there like the OG Jesus fan club, but I actually find Elder Bednar to be insurmountably terrifying. Why? Well, this one time long ago, about 4 months to be exact, I had this weird dream where I was running around this creepy old mansion and Elder Bednar was just in a bunch of random places in there and then he chased me all around the place. Turns out though, Elder Bednar isn't actually all that scary. He's still kind of scary, just not THAT scary anymore. Anyway, I shook both of their hands and it was a pretty cool experience. After they spoke for a bit they did this Q and A bit and I got to personally ask the two of them a question! And they answered it! I asked how to best ensure the spirit can be with you always, and Elder Holland told me about how his father would never let the gas tank in his car go past the halfway mark and he could never figure out why. "He must've had one too many bad experiences driving with less than a half tank I guess" said Holland-sensei. But then he said that with the spirit, it's always good to be full, and to never "drive on less than half a tank" so to speak. It was very inspiring to me, and a good message too! When we are constantly filling up on good spiritual experiences, we know we will have enough spiritual fuel to make it round trip! Elder Holland was just a very cool guy. Much funnier than on TV at conference. Elder Bednar just kind of ratted Elder Holland out on silly antics he's pulled the entire time. It was hilarious. He talked about how before the first time he was to give a talk in conference, Elder Holland stopped him and gave him some advice to calm his nerves. This advice was, and I quote:
"Dave, before you begin, I just want you to know that the faith of saints everywhere in the gospel of Jesus Christ and the fate of the kingdom of God now rest solely upon what you say in the next 16 minutes"
I love Elder Holland man. If I'm ever nervous, I know exactly who to stay far away from.
It's a good thing that part of the week went well, because the rest of it was absolutely awful. I think the best example of this is that right as I was about to give up on a particularly rough day, I saw something I'd never seen before. A scarlet macaw and a blue and gold macaw, fighting each other. Some random lady was trying to feed them, I guess they were her pets or something, and they decided it was time to settle some kind of macaw gang dispute, because they just started going at it like Captain America and Iron Man in Civil War. I decided right then what the door approach was going to be. I figured that I'd ask about the birds, find out in the process how one ends up with two magnificent tropical birds beating the crap out of each other in one's backyard, and then share the gospel with one of God's children. Well, we went up to the house, and aside from the unholy screams of the bird fight it was pretty quiet. I knocked on the door and got nothing so it was time to employ my secret weapon: Hawaiian greetings. I cleared my throat and said simply:
"Aloha"
And then everything went to hell so fast I couldn't even tell what was happening. All at once there were three snarling, very angry dogs making very loud noises at me, one of them was biting at the fence (he actually got through the fence and that was a nightmare let me tell you) and some angry dude was yelling 'not interested' to try and speak over the dogs. I tried to ask about the birds so he'd know we weren't there just to try and indoctrinate him or something, but he was having none of it and soon we were not only off the doorstep, but being hunted down by a massive brown barking bear as well. It was so magical and grand that I definitely did not fear for my life and wonder when I went crazy enough to sign up for this. Nope. I was feeling rewarded for my efforts in trying to be a brave missionary. That's definitely the feeling I associated with this. "It's great to try new things!"
What's the take away from this experience? Don't be curious about other people's cool pets. They'll hate you if you try to ask about it. They'll also intentionally sick their dog on you because you are a "filthy Mormon who doesn't know Jesus". WHAT. FUN.
It's not quite as exciting, but Elder Durrant and I also tried to find an old dropped investigator family named the Bossy family this week. We've never actually seen them before (I have a theory they might not exist) but their house actually had someone in it this time, so that's new! It wasn't the family we were looking for, but the interior looked like a family's home, and the guy WAS totally high on something. His name was Jimmy. And Jimmy did not live in that house. He'd also never heard of the Bossy family. He got high and opened the wrong door. I'm not even making that up. You meet the weirdest people in this line of work. (._.)
At least it was eventful, despite not being super productive with missionary work. We tried, they said no, and we kept on keepin' on. Then, Elder Durrant had a birthday. As a special surprise, I let him buy me dinner that day. I'm just kidding, I took him to breakfast at this restaraunt called the Kaneohe pancake house. And I gave him his own character in my comic, Dead End. He's 21 now, so I have to make sure he drinks responsibly. We don't want any DUI charges now (´･ω･`)
So that's it for this week. Anyone who can tell me what the title is referencing wins a shout out next week, so get on it you nerds! And remember! Try not to use Google if you can help it! This is a tough one though so just this once I'll let you Google if you absolutely can't get it. Your hint is: it's an old reference.
Have a better week than a happy go lucky axolotl!
Later Peeps! (๑>◡<๑)
-Mr. Elder Rogers Man
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| Elder Durrant and me at the meeting with Elder Holland and Elder Bednar |
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