Don't Worry, Be A Flying Blue Cat

"Aye Sir!"
-A Certain Blue Cat who can fly...

Okay! With things going particularly slowly this week, and the plague of cold/flu symptoms about giving me a LOT of extra free time, this email should be pretty informative. There's a lot I'd like to let you know about though, so stay tuned bros!

So! A few weeks ago we met this really cool dude named "Happy". Yes, that's actually his name for real. He fits the description too! When we taught him about the restoration of the gospel he was really excited about it and he was amazed that we still have a prophet on the earth today! He gladly accepted the Book of Mormon and has been reading it in his spare time. Our next lesson with him is going to be on the Plan of Salvation, and we are all really excited about it. I'm praying and hoping it goes well, because personally the plan of salvation is one of my favorites to teach. Happy isn't the only person we have been teaching though. The other guy is a really cool dude named Leo Narvana. He's been unable to come to church due to work, but we have been praying for him and we hope that the Lord will be able to provide a way for him to come, and that he won't be nervous about visiting the church. A few extra prayers his way would be a nice blessing for those who feel so inclined. Leo has been taught the plan of salvation, restoration, and the gospel of Jesus Christ, and has been reading and highlighting verses in the scriptures. It's really exciting after having such a hard time finding new people that want to hear the gospel. We were beginning to think nobody cared in Kekaha. Walt hasn't shown any further interest at all in learning more, so we haven't seen him as much lately. It's sad when you meet someone so well prepared to hear the gospel and they reject it's teachings, especially because you know it could really bless their lives. But Walt has 7 degrees and believes himself to be smart enough to know that organized religion is inherently wrong. As sad as it is for me, I've come to realize the truth of that scripture that warns "men are learned and think they are wize". Speaking honestly, the only way I've gotten this far in life to begin with is by recognizing that I know pretty much nothing at all about anything in particular other than my testimony, because the rest of the world moves too quickly for any perceived knowledge to remain concrete for very long. I think it's been a struggle, but relying on your testimony first and all other objectives taking a second to choosing the right has lead me to go where I was needed at just the right time. So investing my trust in God is, to me at least, a positive one, and it helps with the constant unending anxiety of every day life. What doesn't help, by the way, is mice.

More specifically, having to kill them.

This past week we decided to get some sticky traps to take care of the rodent problem. It worked out pretty well, but the problem with sticky traps is the mouse is still alive and just wriggles around on the trap until it starves to death. Unless you decide to put it out of its misery, like I did. So you take it outside, and drop a 20lb weight on it to kill it instantly, and then you have to clean up the guts. And the entire time you feel awful because even though it's a mouse and you want it to be dead and gone so you can go on with your day, it's kind of cute looking in a weird way at the same time. It has those beady little eyes and it's nose twitches and stuff, and it has those little circle ears, and every cute cartoon mouse from Cinderella is just popping into your head, and then you think of Gus Gus, poor, helpless little mentally unstable Gus Gus, and down goes the weight. Then the head is exploded, and you feel some semblance of solace because it didn't have to suffer, but the tears come anyway and you stand there saying "I'm Sorry, I'm Sorry" to nobody in particular and you turn away because you can't look at it now. It hurts too much. And then you leave it outside and try to ask your companion, who let you do this whole thing by yourself, to take care of the clean up so you can recover emotionally from the distress that comes from killing an actual animal that wasn't just a bug or something. And then you start having flashbacks of that one time you hit a dog with your car on accident which prompted you to never want to drive again, and as all of these spiraling internal thoughts run their course, he looks up and goes: "No, you do it". So you try to explain and he goes "I don't care, quit being a pussywillow and clean the mouse up" but you just can't. So you don't, and inevitably he does it for you, but gives you crap about it the whole entire time. And by the time you get to church you are so exhausted that when a member sees you he tells you you look like you are on pot because of how red and unhealthy your eyes look. And you think, "oh no... The fatigue is showing" and you try to say "I'm OK just tired" but somehow it comes out as "I'm just tired OK?!" and then you get to feel bad about that, too.

But it's OK, because.... Because.....

Because riding in the dark has been anything but successful, and you're following all the rules now and trying to figure out what is and isn't okay because you can't handle being yelled at again, so you just stop talking and sing hymns to yourself until it's time to work again. Spoiler alert: it's always time for work. And it was better before but you have faith, and the only answer to the prayers is a fortune cookie you got at panda express on p-day that says "What is coming is better than what has gone"

So yeah. For the most part, everything is okay, and nothing is wrong. Sometimes there are brief moments of stress from overwork, and those moments are especially plentiful when Sunday comes, and nobody, not even the cool people from Mexico, come to church. So you're left wondering what it is that you did wrong. People just aren't helping out over here. But everyday I write in my journal, and do a doodle of some kind, and things work out. Another day comes and goes, but we have optimism and hope.

Advice for this week:

Don't Worry, Be Happy.

Until next week, this is Elder Rogers, signing off.

Pictures: 1) A part of our area looks exactly like the first layer from Made in Abyss.
2) The mouse in the sticky trap. *shivers*
3) The Japanese cemetery by the beach is actually one of my favorite places to go. I like to try to read the Kanji on the nameplates. This is a wonderful sunset there. Oh and by the way, we met a Japanese family that are very excited about being taught in Japanese. Please continue to pray for me so that I can help them in their own language. There are 4 members of the family. It's all very exciting.
4)There are TONS of giant frogs in the grass at night. Crazy isn't it?