July 26, 2009

Hello everyone,

Well it has been a pretty eventful week this week and I have been realizing just how hard missionary work can be. We have also been having storms here. Last week it rained for 3 days. We even tracted in the rain which was fun. The humitity isn't that bad and we have to wear our suit jackets until it gets over 70 degrees which doesn't happen till about lunch time but it still feels soooo hot outside. Ok, a little update or explanation of how my week goes. On Sunday I go to church at 8:45 for a pec planning meeting then church starts at 10 and by about 1:45ish we finally are getting home because we have to talk to everyone. Then we have lunch and get back out and go see people and tract some more and most of the time go over and eat at a member's house. The Scherers have some wild crazy kids that would make some of our cousins look calm. (haha) They are jumping up and down, eating with their hands, and putting their feet on the table and giggling and laughing, but it's funny. Then on Monday we get up and do a normal wake up at 6:15 then by 8 we study and at 9 we do companionship study then at 10 we are ready to go out. P-day goes from 10am to 6pm and we can do whatever we want to do. My companion likes to go and do stuff like play basketball with other missionaries. A zone pday is when all members of the zone meet somewhere and we hang out for the day, just a bunch of missionaries. There is 3 sets in our district with my companion as district leader, so I get to make some phone calls. Then there is a set of sister missionaries, one who was in my district at the MTC, and the other set is a pair of elders, one who also was in the MTC the same time as me. So in our district all the companionships have new missionaries in them, which can be cool when we get together on Tuesdays. So on Tuesday we have a district meeting where us 6 get together and just have meetings and workshops and learn from each other. On Wednesday we have a scripture study class that I taught last week on the Holy Ghost. On Thursday we have a big weekly planning meeting with just me and my companion and we plan out the rest of the week on what we are going to do. So that's what is like; set in stone on our scheldule and the rest gets filled in with tracting and appointments with people with an hour for lunch and dinner in there somewhere. Oh, and we are back by 9 each night and make phone calls to check up on the other 2 companions then we say prayers, write in journals and go to bed. That is pretty much my weekly schedule.

We are still on to baptize Gordan. We are having both of us get in the tank with him. He has a bad back, bad foot, and way overweight so we will have fun with that one. We've been teaching a lady named Shelley who has committed to baptism, I think the 26th. A funny story...we went to this street tracting and knocked on this door and this kinda punkish looking kid answers the door and we said we are missionaries and he was like I'm atheist and we were like well can we leave you with a card for a free book about Jesus Christ? He then procedes to say some choice words and slams the door. Then you could hear all his buddies laughing in the background like oh you got them good. We laughed and went to the next house. When we were about 2 houses down he comes running back out over to us and we were like ahh hide your wallet, but he comes over just looking almost like the fear of God was upon him and he was like oh I'm so sorry I didn't mean it. I was a jerk. I'm sorry, I'll take whatever you have to give me and listen to your message! So we taught him a little and he kept saying sorry but we got a return appointment and on Sunday went back and taught him the first lesson and we are going back next Sunday! Now that is a funny interesting story. We also have this guy, Saul, that we are teaching. But the cool thing about him is he is Spanish and one time went to Lovell and worked at sugar beet farms! That's pretty cool. He kept saying how the Mormons are everywhere up there. Also, this week on maybe Friday we are going to a Spanish migrant camp with a bunch of people who want to hear the gospel, but no one speaks English so we have this lady who speaks Spanish going to come with us and we will see what we can do. Tracting is very interesting...most of the time no one is home or is just not interested but some people are funny, like a young boy who is as white as can be says he is muslim and slams the door and walks away. Or people forget to close the door and say oh its just them Mormons again. Or we get a lot of I'm catholic or I have a faith or just rude, not interested, I belive in the bible nothing more. Some people listen so its all good. Oh and another cool story is that I saw my camaro last week, black too! :) Its pretty funny because everytime someone yells and slams the door in our face, I see my car, so its kinda like the Lord is saying: blessings await you if you keep working hard. I know that probably is stretched a lot but its cool to think about! That stinks about dad going all over the place but I guess there is just nothing you can do about it. If he goes through Fremont that will be pretty cool, if he goes on the 6 i think he will drive by our house! The yellow two story on the north of the President Center (in case you were wondering). It is so green up here, like everything is green and lots of trees. Make sure Brittany is taking care of my room. That's cool that you had the missionaries over for dinner. Its always fun to be fed by members because we only have about 5 dollars a day for everything we need. Oh, and also the baby that we gave the blessing to in the hospital, the mom asked us if we could stand in the circle for the naming. That was a really fun and neat experience. Well I think that is pretty much the highlights of my week. Its also funny how small our branch is, there is only one young man and I think 2 young women. haha. Everything is a lot different with a small branch, than our big ward back home. Hardly anyone is a member so you don't get the oh hey elders or hi's that you get back home with lots of members. And a lot of people not knowing a lot of simple things and breaking a lot of commandments and living in the world. Its pretty sad but that what we are here to do is to help them. Miss you lots! Its weird to think that I have been gone for a month already! Wow crazy! Well write again soon love you lots!
~Elder Price