Hey Mom! September
5, 2016
You know, can I make a
request? You talking about all the things I left behind kind of put a dent in
my heart because I considered all the Lego and Bionicle figures I had collected
over the years. Those guys were my childhood and I find it sad I didn't really
use them much in the past few years. Could you maybe take them to the Ranch and
put them in a corner or something in the playroom so that other kids could play
with them while they stay there? I guess after I get back I can re-build any of
the damages made. Ah...sweet, sweet, childhood.
Anyway, enough of that...
Yeah, I'm not terribly
surprised that there's more missionaries behind me than in-front in the Palo
Verde ward. I remember graduating 6 June and then reporting 7 July of last
year, so I probably dropped off the face of the Earth for some folks.
It's...odd to think about where they'll all be when I get back. Still, give
Mario my regards! That guy's a teddy-bear of a man and I don't know how Mckay
and I survived without him for the years he wasn't there. I'll need to email
some of the other missionaries serving then!
In terms of this week, it
was....slow. Not bad, but slow. For starters, it was rodeo-fair season, so that
attracts a whole assortment of folks from around all over. Paticularly cowboys,
lots of cowboys around here now. And the worst part is they're not the cowboys
I'm used to striking a conversation up with, unlike the valley-boys I'm
acquainted with. Still, we've been cutting back out street-contacting a lot in
place of member-visits, less-active work, or family history too! On that note
we're probably going to see if we can start up a family-history booth at the
weekly farmer's market. Whether or not we'd be allowed to wear our pros-gear
though, not too certain. Anytime that we did find ourselves street-contacting,
not that it wasn't obvious before, folks seem to walk a little quicker around
us than others. Any attempts to start a casual conversation don't go much
anywhere, as people simply say hello back and keep moving. But given the
overall social-trend of face-to-face communication as of recent years, I'm not
too terribly surprised. Still, got to drive to the edge of the valley at one
point and meet an awesome family named the Terrells, who are building a house
in Wenatchee! They were super cool, and offered us some chocolate lasagna to
go. I didn't know the stuff existed up until that point.
Fun story about
street-contacting though, one of the nights we were walking around I felt
rather down-heartened because of the walls and blank-faces we felt we were
running into. About 8:45 we found ourselves walking down main street, trying to
discern where the spirit would lead us. I wasn't getting too much of anything,
but as we passed the local pizza joint a girl who worked there ran out and
called after us, with a cheese pizza in hand. She told us that they had made
some extra pizza, and asked if we would be willing to take one. She had met
with missionaries before, and although she wasn't too interested in religion,
she still appreciated what we did. The pizza was good, but sometimes I wish
everyone else out there could be like her. Katie, that was her name.
Jenny's been giving us the
cold shoulder recently. Not terribly certain as to why, but in our last visit
we were able to help her through some current concerns regarding some social
concerns she had. Fortunately we had Bro./Dr./Bishop Davis with us, and he was
a great help for her.
And to answer your question,
yeah. We're still on the no-meat diet. Funny story about that too, yesterday
Sis. Bednarik, our dinner appointment, misunderstood the situation when we
explained it to her over the phone earlier. We get there and she had made two
whole chickens because she figured we would be famished from fasting. Well, I
wasn't terribly when I got there but I sure felt close when I saw those
chickens. When she carved them and asked us how much we wanted, we let an
awkward silence go by before we fully explained our plight. She thought it was
hilarious, fortunately. Yeah, we met with Tyler and taught him the Plan of
Salvation, and he said he'd once again pray to know if it was true if we again
cut meat. But hey! He was reading and praying about it, and I would say that
little by little, he's coming to know of the truth.
I thought the story of Harley
chasing the stranger cat was pretty funny. I kind of feel like the love-hate
relationship that she and Smokey have is pretty funny. Harley's definitely more
on the love side and I feel Smokes is still middle-grounded. Who knows, maybe
one day Smokey will finally say "thanks for all the embarrassment. No
seriously." or something.
Yeah, things are slow, but
they're going. The district got a picture of all the RM from the mission as of
the last few transfers at some Panda Express in Utah. That was funny to see.
Yeah, thanks for all the love you guys send! I'll be certain to keep Tom and
Evan in my prayers, give them my regards.
I also loved your testimony
Mom, I always thought myself lucky to have a mom as outstanding as you are!
Often I think, "there's got to be God's hand behind us here, just look at
the way Mom and Dad loved me!"
Love you again, always too!
Michael
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