Well Hello (11/17/2009)

Well things are going pretty well here. The weather has warmed up. There was been frost outside every morning but it has been warming up into the high 50's throughout the day which isn't bad. I guess I will have to wait some more for snow.

So I have another injury to report. Every Monday, Wednesday and Friday they play basketball at one of the local high schools around here. So every once in a while we will go. So we went on Friday and everything was going well. I was guarding this guy that was just running all over the court. Well one time he was running towards me and he stepped on my shoe and since I was already going backwards, I just went down with nothing to break my fall except my rib, which usually isn't a good thing to break your fall....usually. So anyway, I get up and I was fine and I just played the rest of the day. I didn't think much of it but it was kind of achy throughout Friday and Saturday. Sunday it was doing better but it was still hurting when I would try and move in bed. So I talked to an athletic trainer in the ward and she said that it is either cracked or bruised, but the only thing they can do for it is wrap it in an ace bandage. She said either way it will just heal on its own. So that is my injury report for today.

Well Saturday we had an awesome opportunity to hear from Jeffery R. Holland. Elder Jay Jansen of the presidency of the seventy accompanied him and he was awesome as well. He just gave us the typical rebuking of “you need to be obedient” but he said the mission doesn't really need that. You guys need to teach with more power and authority. We were able to shake his hand before and he said he interviewed during that split second that he looked into our eyes. He turned to president Belnap and said President “you have a good mission here, there are 3 or 4 that are struggling but we all have struggles”. It was pretty intense. It was a worth while experience.

So there were even more people at church this week for the branch. We were up to 64 for this week. It was definitely a good sight. Although I was asked to speak so that was a little interesting thinking there will be maybe 30 than speaking to 64. But it was fun none-the-less.

On Sunday I walked into opening exercises of priesthood meeting and they had already started and said we will be singing a cappella unless we have a piano player in our midst. I am not at the stage that I volunteer to play but I don't like singing a cappella, especially in priesthood, so I told them I would play and they were tickled pink. You would have thought the prophet had just walked in. Hopefully they aren't asking every week now.

Well the Morales are doing well. They seem to enjoy us coming over and what we talk about. I know they feel the spirit; it is just getting them to church. If anyone has any ideas I would appreciate it. It is like pulling teeth trying to get them to go to church.

There is another girl, Morgan. I don't know if I have talked about her or not. She is 18 and works at the Taco Bell here in town. That’s where we met her. We have been teaching her for a little while and she believes everything. She has even been to church three times. Her problem is that she doesn't know if she can repent. I think it is she is afraid to get new friends because she said she will have to if she doesn't want to do the "bad stuff" again. Whatever that means. So we will see about that.

Well that’s about all I have to report. We have seen some success in the less-active aspect of work. There have been two families that have made their way back to church a of couple times in both the branch and the ward.

Oh, another story. So there is another ward that meets in the church building that we meet at after us. After our meetings were out, there was an older man that was struggling getting up the steps into the church house. Some people were helping him up the steps while I was holding the door. I didn't know him but I guess he has been a mission president in Chile and a Stake President in the stake I am in. They call him President Allsop. Anyway we got into church and we left. Well I guess as the sacrament was being passed he took the water and he has having trouble getting it down. I guess he was coughing it up. Well the Bishop goes down to help the man’s wife and they get the paramedics there. They came into the chapel in the middle of the Sacrament. That would be definitely interesting. So they took him to the hospital where he died at 4 the next morning. They said he had a stroke. He was teaching the gospel principles class the week before. So he was doing all right. There will be a funeral Friday.

Well I better run. You guys have a great week.