Another Good Week 10/15

 

Well today is a special day to be able to email because it's my Moms birthday! So everybody be sure to wish her a great one! I believe it's her 23rd birthday. Well it's been another great week here in Centreville 1st! Everything is really going well here and we've had some of the best weather! It has been mid 60's pretty much all week and this upcoming week it's supposed to be just a little warmer, upper 60's, so it should be awesome! We had a few interesting lessons this past week though, probably two of the most frustrating lessons I've taught on my entire mission, but still I'm just glad we got the chance to teach! The first one was with a woman, who has some great faith, but believes that she is a prophetess (female prophet). She's single so we were having a lesson with the Sister missionaries there so that they could start teaching her instead because it was really hard to find people to come with us right in the middle of the day, which is always when she wanted to meet. But the whole time we were there she just kept cutting us off or telling us to stop talking and then she would stand up and begin to yell some sort of something at us haha, anything from Nephi (Book of Mormon Prophet) just being a reincarnated Paul (from the New Testament), or that the Sabbath is really on Saturday and not Sunday and we need to repent and change that practice in our church... So it was pretty tough haha. She loves the Book of Mormon though and loves to study it with the missionaries, so hopefully the Sisters can just help her get some things cleared up haha. So then immediately after that lesson we went to another lesson with a woman who we were going to watch general conference with and we had spent like 2 hours burning it onto a DVD for her the day before, then we got there and after about 12 seconds of her just being like "this is dumb, why do they have to introduce everybody? Why can't they just introduce themselves?" or "I hate it when choirs sing all at the same time like that, I can't understand anything they're saying" she decided she would just watch it later and then told us she thinks that the reason that Mormon's are such a widespread religion and the fastest growing religion in the world is because it is being led by the devil, who is just deceiving all of us haha. But to soften that blow a little bit she did say that we are very nice people and if the devil is leading us we are probably having a good influence on him, so that was really nice of her haha. So that was a super frustrating day, but still a good one! We had a pleasant surprise this weekend too with one of the other women we are teaching. We just stopped by her house to see how she was doing because she wasn't home for our lesson this Friday, and her son answered and told us that she wasn't there again, so at first we were like dang! she hates us! But then he told us that the reason that she wasn't there is because she decided to take a trip up to the Temple Visitor's Center with her boyfriend! How cool is that? So after finding that out we were totally fine with her not being home right then haha. Overall it was a great week here though! Centreville is an awesome place, I wouldn't be the least bit mad if I ended up staying here the rest of my mission! Well I hope everyone is having a great week wherever you are! I love and miss you all lots!

Quick note to Mom 10/9

Hey Mom! Wasn't conference awesome? I really thought all the talks were awesome, I was so pumped up after Elder Holland's talk especially "I imagine Christ will ask each of us that ver same question, he will turn to you and ask 'Did-You-Love Me?'" I think bold and underlined is the closest way to type it with as much power as Elder Holland said it with haha. I also really liked President Uchdorf's Sunday morning talk about resolving to be happy. His Priesthood session talk was really similar too and it was great. And then of course the two the pictures went with were awesome as well. "Ask the missionaries!" and "I'm a Mormon, I know it, I live it, I love it!" So awesome! I'm glad you and Shell got to watch them all too, I've decided that in order for me to remember stuff I've just got to write it down, so I ended up taking like 14 pages worth of notes this conference haha. I did get both the Packages though! They were so awesome! That Mac and Cheese you made was delicious too! Super duper cheesy with bacon in it, the best!! We've been loving all the Steak Dad made too. We each had a big slice on Friday and then Saturday made some steak and cheese quesidillas and we still have two steaks left over for this week! I wrote Melissa a quick email yesterday before I had to go letting her know that I think she should try to serve if she can, she would really make a great missionary. Well I better get running, crazy to think your birthday is just a week away! That'll be sweet because I'll be able to emaiil you right on your birthday since it will be on a Monday :) Well I hope you're having a great week Mom! I love and miss you lots and lots!

Real Weekly Email 10/9

Well now I'll be able to go into just a little more detail with my email haha. It was a great week here in Centreville like always! This week was actually even greater than usual too! Friday was our year mark and we had a nice home-cooked meal straight from home itself! I got 2 awesome packages from my family with tons of great food in it. The second of the two packages was even filled with home grilled steaks from my Dad and some awesome homemade mac and cheese from my Mom, it was so awesome! Plus we were able to finish off our meal with some good chocolate fondue and lots of stuff to dip in it (also in the package). Which overall made it an awesome day! Then of course Saturday and Sunday were great because of General Conference, which I was really really excited about. I can't believe the age limit for Missionaries was lowered to 18! And 19 for Sister missionaries! How crazy is that? So we should be getting a couple really big groups of missionaries coming in these next couple of transfers! Especially a lot of Sister missionaries, which is good, because Sister missionaries are always the best missionaries anyways haha. I thought all of the talks this Conference were great though! I really liked President Uchdorf's talks and also Elder Hollands alot. Plus Russell M. Nelson's and Robert C. Gay's talks were really good too. I can't wait until they get put up on Lds.org so I can download them onto my MP3 player to listen to a few more times. We were able to watch the Saturday afternoon conference with a guy we're teaching named Bankoli (he's from Sierra Leone) and he really really liked it, he said that he can really tell and feel that the men who were speaking were inspired of God. Yesterday was also a ton of fun because we went on a district trip to Washington D.C. for the day! We had planned to meet everyone at a bus stop in our area and just take the bus and then train up to D.C. but we got there, then the Sisters got there, and then the other two companionships in our district texted us and said they were just going to meet us up there because they had found someone to give them a ride. Well we got up there and got another text saying their ride fell through so they weren't going to come... So it ended up just being us and the Sisters haha which was still good because we're really good friends with the Sisters, but still we were really hoping everyone could come haha. I did take lots of sweet pictures of the Monuments and stuff though that I should be able to send back soon. It was a lot of fun! Man has it been getting chilly here though! Sunday the high for the day was like 58 and then Monday it was 54! It sounds like it should stay the same and just cool down from here on out though. Some people in our ward who we ate dinner with last week said that it will probably stay 60's all throughout the upcoming week. It's going to be sweet! So it's time to start breaking out the winter gear! Well overall it's been another great week here! It's looking like it should be another great one coming up too! I hope everyone is having a great week wherever you are! I love and miss you guys lots!

Email from 10/1-- Almost 1 year!

Well it's crazy to think that this Friday I will have been on my mission for a full year! As much as I miss everyone it still has flown by so fast! It feels like just yesterday I was back in Mclean 2nd with Elder Campbell, was in a car rather than on a bike, and 30 pounds lighter! The mission really has been great so far though, I hope the second half stays just as awesome. This past week was a really great one too but man did it bring back a lot of year ago memories. We had a guy in our ward give his farewell talk on Sunday and he flew out to the MTC today. So on Saturday we got invited to his farewell BBQ with all his friends and family for dinner and man it was weird, it felt like I was just at my own of each of those! Time has flown. We had a few people we are teaching come with us to church on Sunday as well so it was an awesome thing for them to be able to experience as well. The guy who is leaving is Elder DeLeon and he is headed to the Guatemala mission. He is the first of 3 that will be leaving from our ward this transfer. We'll be having a Sister head to Taipei and then another Elder heading to the Anchorage Alaska mission right after she leaves! Lots and lots of missionaries! We have had some sweet storms this past week as well. This past Thursday? I think it was Thursday but I don't remember for sure, we were biking home and all of a sudden we realized that there were some really dark storm clouds all around us and the wind was really picking up and then all of a sudden it just started pouring! There was lightening like every couple of seconds and thunder like crazy! It was so awesome to see up close haha. We made it home all safe and sound and everything but man were we soaked. It was a great end to a great day! This P-day has been quite a crazy one as well though. We have been all over the place shopping! We biked about 10 miles this morning to go to Costco to buy food in bulk (Elder Cluff has a Costco card) so it would last us through the new transfer, and then we biked a few more miles over to Walmart and then stopped on our way back for a haircut and finally made it back just in time to be able to email! So unfortunately because of the crazy bike riding everywhere my time to email is a little shorter than normal, so this email is going to have to be just a little short this time around. I wish I had more time! Oh and by the way Elder Cluff and I are staying together for this next transfer here in Centreville 1! I forgot to mention that somehow haha. It really was a great week here though, just as it always is out here in the mission field! I hope everybody has had a great past week as well! I love and miss you guys lots!