#LDSconf #newapostles #ponderize #allthehashtags

Heylo everybody!
So Monday, we went to the Pyramid (I already sent the pics, they're on
the blog I think.) It was pretty cool. Hey had a lot of cool manly
stuff and we all felt pretty awesome. Also everyone thought we worked
there, so we kept getting asked where stuff was. #mishprobs :P
After P-day ended we couldn't really go far, since our car was
basically out of miles and so we were biking. So, we went to a trailer
park close to our place. We got to see the P family, who have
had the missionaries coming over for a while now. We talked to them
about general conference, and how cool it was to have an actual
prophet and actual apostles on live TV. (Doesn't that just sound soooo
cool?!) Then we helped some kid track down his dog and went home.
Tuesday we had district meeting! It was really good. We talked about
how we can help people to want to change, and want to keep the
commitments we leave them. A lot of the time, our investigators do
stuff out of motivation, and that's good, but we want them to do
things because they truly want to come closer to God. We had a really
good discussion about it. After the meeting and some cookies (I am
basically the "refreshments" guy for district meetings I guess :P) we
got picked up by an investigator from Humbolt, Tennesee named R. He
is Hispanic, and is good friends with Elder Moore and Elder Peterson.
So, he took the four of us to a Chinese Buffet place. I ate a lot more
fried stuff than I probably should have. (Don't worry, Mom, my blood
sugar stayed fine.) After that, we did exchanges! Elder Moore went to
South, and I got to spend the day with on of my favorite companions,
Elder Heaton. It was a great day. We were still biking, and had to go
pretty far up north. It was worth it though, because we had a really
good lesson with C and E, two people we had met last week. They
have a lot of really good questions, and we LOVE questions :P We also
got in to see F, which was good. He may be moving to Oxford
soon, which is sad, but he has a good job offer down there. Then we
went to the Hs for dinner. The whole family was there, and
some friends, plus four missionaries. It was a party! Elder Heaton and
I spent most of the time playing with I, one of Sis.
H's grandkids. She is very adorable, and insisted I take a
picture of her with the flower crown I made her.

Tuesday I also learned that God really knows how to communicate with
us in a personalized way. We were biking down a hill after an
appointment. We had just biked up that hill before, so both of us were
glad to be able to whiz down it. We were going towards a
T-intersection at the bottom, and both streets were empty. I was going
in front, almost to the intersection, when that little voice in my
head said, in a pretty cynical voice, "You'll totally get T boned by a
pickup here, just watch." I kinda laughed in my head, but then out of
curiosity looked both ways. That gave me plenty of time to skid to a
stop before a big old GMC flew by. Elder Heaton thought I was going to
die. We both had a good laugh about it afterwards, though. It's nice
to know I'm being looked after.

Wednesday we exchanged back, and Elder Moore and I set off on our last
day of biking, because the miles refill every month. And it was a
great day to be outside! I hardly sweated at all, which for me in the
South is an achievement, trust me. We saw Fernando again, and also
this cool lady named F. We taught her about the Restoration and
she really found it interesting! We invited her to conference too, so
hopefully she comes! We had dinner at this super popular shaved ice
place in the middle of the Triangle called Jerry's. It looks kind of
sketchy, but the food was really good.

Thursday we had a good day. We went to this one lady's house to help
with her garden. We had found her a week ago. She is 94, and was
trying to operate a Rototiller. Yeah, we told her she would need some
help with that :P So we show up with Butler and Peterson, and she
doesn't answer the door. That was too bad. But we were all there, in
service clothes. So we walked down the street to Sis. H's house and
asked her what we could do at her house. And so we weeded her garden
for her. It hadn't been done for a bit, there were little trees
growing in it. Do you know how hard it is to pull out a tree? Pretty
hard. But we did it, and it went fast. Sister H took us out to eat
as a thank you. It turns out that it was her BIRTHDAY (none of us
knew) and she had just been "thinking about how much God had blessed
her in her life," as she put it, when we came. She was really grateful
for us. It was sweet. After that, we got changed and went out to find
people. We have been trying to work closer to our apartment, because
the area we normally work in is really burned out. And we had a lot of
success! I honestly didn't think there were any Hispanics that lived
near us, but there sure are. After a bit of that, we had dinner with
the Rs, which was really good. Then we went to a trailer park
pretty far north of town that we had heard had Hispanics. And boy, did
it! There is a ton of potential there, and we met some cool people.
Friday we went back to the Triangle. We talked to F again, and
helped him make a commitment to change for real this time. He has been
going through some of the old struggles he has had in the past. We
helped him to realize that Christ is always there to help him, even
when we weren't. I have learned that a lot. I have had to go through a
lot of hard change in the past year, and I know for a fact that
without God, NONE of it would have happened. No one else could have
done it. Anyway, after that we saw A and went over the Plan of
Salvation with her. I love teaching people about this, because so many
people have a general idea of it, but no one has really told them
specifically about it. The reason it sounds so familiar no matter what
is because we all already knew about it at one point, and it's fun
watching people "rediscover" it. :) After we saw her, we had dinner
with the B family again. They are really great. When I was here
last time, I went to their house one time, and talked to them maybe
twice. But every time Bro. B saw me he would act like his long
lost brother had come to see him. He is just a really loving guy, and
so is everyone else in his family. I love eating there. Anyway, they
fed us, and then we went to see this guy named J. He is American,
but his wife is a Hispanic member from Nashville. He had been taught
by the missionaries a lot there, and they moved here about two months
ago. We had a really good talk with him, and he opened up a lot. We
are excited to work with him, he already is gaining a testimony.
Saturday!!! Woo! General Conference is always the coolest weekend for
missionaries. It just gets us pumped. And this one was great! I really
recommend watching the talk by Dieter F. Uchdorf on the simplicity of
the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Also, if you are going through some rough
times, with anything at all, watch the one by Dallin H. Oaks. And by
the way, I am talking to all of you, member or no. These are apostles
talking here. Like, the equivalent of Peter, John, and Paul. Thats
just AWESOME. Sorry, I keep saying that. But it really is just so
amazing! So they really know what is going on in the world today, and
they put it simply how to help us. Also, this conference was
especially important because three NEW APOSTLES were called. You see,
apostle is a lifelong calling. You only get released if you want to
leave the church, basically. So three of the apostles died since the
last conference, and they called Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson,
and Dale G. Renlund were called to be their replacements. SO cool. It
was great. I would put all my notes, but none of them would make sense
if you hadn't been watching. So watch it. Then if you want my notes,
email me :P Between sessions, we just hung around the church for a
bit, then blitzed the area inviting people, and then had a party with
the Spanish branch guys, the English missionaries, and us. It's still
really weird to have Elder Erickson around all the time. If his
parents are reading this right now, then I'll just let you know he is
doing great! Don't worry, I'm keeping an eye on him :P But yeah, there
was a lot of good food. Bro. B made some Honduran food, and Bro.
T brought some homemade guacamole with some jalepeño in it.
Suuuuuper delicious. (Mom, did I tell you I like guacamole and
avocados now? I do.) So we went home full of good stuff, in our
stomachs and souls. :)
Sunday was basically a repeat of Saturday! I watched the first session
in Spanish, since most of the branch showed up for the morning
session. It was pretty good! I'm going to study it in English, just to
make sure I got everything :P I really liked Russell M. Nelson's talk
on how important women are in the Church. There were some good talks
on that subject, actually! Between sessions, all the missionaries just
kinda sat around. Some of the members stayed and made some tacos and
stuff, so we had that too. For the afternoon session, literally no
Spanish members showed up, so I watched it in English. Again, it was
fantastic. I'm stoked to start "ponderizing" the scriptures like Bro.
Durrant suggested! After conference, all 6 of us gathered at Juan
Rs' house for Elder Petersen's "initiation." He had some
beetles, and we all celebrated together with some dang good  food.
That was our week! All 6 of us are together today, so it'll be a
party! Love you guys!

Some random pics this week! First one is from the 4th of July, when
all of us had to hold a tarp over the earth oven for about two hours
in a solid downpour. The second picture is whatever happened when the
wind stopped. Yeah, most of us almost suffocated a few times. Then
there's Js pork wraps with rice and homemade fries. He is just an
incredible cook.