opportunities that I'll have pretty much only as a missionary. This
week's was the ability to get to know so many different people, get to
know them pretty intimately in such a short time, and hear so many
crazy stories from them. The dad of the Wirick family served his
mission in a pretty sketchy area of Buffalo, New York. One time they
were in visiting a lady, and a guy came in and said that they were
about to be part of a gunfight if they didn't leave soon. They looked
out the window, and there were 3 guys with guns. The lady they were
visiting said "oh, one of them is my ex boyfriend. I'll get you out of
here". It turns out those guys were there to shoot off the masculine
parts of the guy living below her that she had liked and had been
rejected by, so she told her ex at he sexually assaulted her. Crazy
world. The other stories mainly came from them when they lived above
the arctic circle, driving 4-wheelers to and snowmobiles across the
frozen lake to get to church in the winter, hunting, trapping, living
in those freezing temperatures, etc. His son is currently serving in
Compton as well, so that's cool. Anyway, he's a hilarious guy, and it
was good to spend some time with their family seeing all of the horns
or stuffed bodies of things he had shot. Of course, I have pictures. I
think, though, that the thing I liked the most of that visit was
seeing the love between the two of the parents. I know, weird and
feminine of me to say. As trunky as it made me watching them cuddle on
the couch and play with each other's hand, it gave me a good insight
to some qualities that I want to have in my own marriage, like how
their humor played off each other's so well.
We did exchanges this week with the district leader and his companion,
so I went to Riverton with a greenie. I forgot how frustrating they
can be haha. I guess I was that way at one point; thinking I know
absolutely everything and I have every answer to every problem, how
there is no reason why anyone shouldn't be baptized within 3 weeks of
meeting them, how if we have faith everything will work out perfectly
even if it means overriding their agency, etc. It was eye opening. It
was also good to teach so many lessons in a day. They had 5 lessons
lined up for us, and that was well above the usual that we get in our
area.
Elder Duda got sick this week for a bit, so I got a chance to read A
LOT. I love reading books in Spanish, and it helps a ton with
vocabulary and grammar. It was a good break. Our ward mission leader
gave us a list of about 17 people that he thought would be good to
visit, and in one afternoon we visited them all. Mostly no answers, a
few "they moved months ago"s, and some "I'm not really interested"s.
Pretty disappointing. But not as much as when we proposed having
members go with us to appointments or take us to visit their non
member friends or home teaching families and that idea got down
because they "don't think anyone would sign up". Well ok then.
Dinner yesterday night was with a less active family, and that went
really well. Their 3 daughters are adorable, and they would be the
poster family for "happy Mormon family". We will visit with them about
weekly now. We also spent the rest of the evening talking about
various life topics with an older couple. Again, it was good to hear
some marriage and life advice from old people that have a pretty ideal
life. So yeah. Despite being a missionary for 16 months, I still
pretty much think or talk about marriage daily and make mental or
physical notes for myself. Weird, I know.
1 and 2. The Wirick's showroom.
3. This is about half of them.
4. Sorry mom. They're called voles, and one of them ran by us on our walk to the front door.
5. This was in a member's home.
6 and 7. These next two were taken out of a book called (I think) The Holy
Temple, by James E. Talmage. I didn't know that there were any
pictures of this or that it was allowed, but I thought you might
appreciate them since I haven't ever found them anywhere else.
8. A member's daughter.
9. This is how she smiles for pictures she takes of herself.
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