Corn

 

"My first picture with the kern."

 

 

"KERN!!!"

"i have a bunch of pictures of the HUGE amounts of food that elder claridge and i make for lunch sometimes. A cookie sheet of nachos, HUGE cookies, ya. haha"



"Frozen mcnuggets and corndogs from Brother Sharp. Such a homie."

 "GIANT (burnt) cookies"

 

Dear family,

 

Hello! This week was very hot. I thought that as we got closer to September it would cool down, but the heat that everyone told me about is finally here. We had no car this week, so we walked around in the high 90 heat! I'm starting to get a nice watch tanline.

On Tuesday we spent some time at the family history center so we would actually know what we're talking about when we invite and tell people to come! I kind of knew what was there, but we got to work on our own genealogy work for about an hour, and it was a nice break and learning experience. From there, we walked and knocked around the area. We had a dinner at 430 that was in NARNIA so we walked half the day looking and knocking for people to teach. No apparent success. The dinner was with a family in our ward who's very young son is fighting cancer. Lots of kids in the family, but the one who was battling was one of the biggest sweetheart studs ever. We were probably smelling awful after walking all day now that I think of it... but he loved talking with us. From that appointment we kept spiritually finding for the rest of the day. LOTS of walking, knocking, and nothing.

 

On Wednesday, we had a lesson with the lady that has the corrupt bible. We were planning on teaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to her, but for some reason during studies I decided to study about the Apostasy.

 

We had about an hour between studies and our appointment with her, so we walked over to the 92 year old ladies house wondering if she would let us in. She was home! and she let us in! We talked with her for the entire hour, and she really opened up to us and likes us a lot. Hopefully we can meet with her about the gospel soon, even though she says she isn't interested. We can get her, I know it. We went to the lesson with a member, and 3 sentences into the discussion she started asking about things that the Apostasy explained perfectly. Well perfect, it was fresh in my mind! I was talking before I even thought about what I was going to say, but because I had prepared myself so well, I knew that the spirit would make it all come out to make sense. IT WAS AWESOME. And the spirit was WAY strong. Apparently the past missionaries hadn't taught her about The restoration, or the apostasy, because this was the first time she had ever heard it. The member bore a sick testimony, we were all grilled spiritually, and we left. I was pumped.

 

After the lesson, we went and helped this kid in our ward with his eagle project. He had put posts in the ground before, but some unruly kids had torn them out and chucked them into the woods. (hahahaha) We had to haul all the cement bags out there, climb down the embankment to get water from a river with a bucket, and pour it in. It was "one of the hottest days of the year!" according to will's dad, who watched the whole thing... Will, Elder Claridge and I were literally dripping in sweat

 

After that project, we went over to this old woman who is in our ward for dinner! When she answered the door, the ENTIRE APARTMENT was filled with smoke! And Brother Russell, (a different guy from our ward who helps her) was running a flaming pan of green beans out of the the back door. We spent the first 20 minutes waving towels, like we were the hebrew slaves to pharoah, trying to clear the smoke out of the apartment. She just sat on the couch and laughed about the whole thing. SUCH A SICK LADY. (She's really old, African American, and laughs really hard at everything.) We taught a sweet lesson, and when we got home, I realized that because of the smoke, we smelt like a combination of hotdogs and smoke. So I started to singing a song about it.

 

I left the phone on the desk after weekly planning and Elder Claridge and I started getting ready for bed and talking on the other side of the apartment. When it was time for bed, I went to go get the phone, to find that we had 23 missed calls! It started out with the Sisters, then the District leader a few times, then the zone leaders A LOT of times, and finally, the AP. I picked up the phone and called the district leader who told us that because they couldn't get a hold of us, everyone was trying to find out where we were, "A district wide search". Then they told the zone leaders, who with their failed attempts finally told the AP. We were freaking out, mostly because it had gotten all the way up to the AP! We called everyone, and tried to get things straight, everyone was relieved, but we still felt like sinners for some reason. Needless to say, the phone has been in my pocket every second since.

 

Thursday we taught {a guy} a sick lesson, and he is ready to be baptized on the 7th! I'm freaking excited to say the least. He's a huge stud and is excited to be baptized. We had a dinner with {a} family later that night. The {family} is way awesome, and have twin boys that are 3. They are best friends and always running around doing stuff. While we were eating dinner, there was a HUGE noise from upstairs, and I turn around to see one of the boys TUMBLING down the wooden stairs. I thought he was gonna be broken all over, but he was fine, so I laughed because it was so weird, and I just end up laughing at most things now a days. The two boys are studs, and love the Elders.

 

While walking home from dinner we came across a couple who we taught about the Book of Mormon, and prophets. They were WAY excited and really interested, so we gave them both a Book of Mormon. Unfortunately they were leaving the next morning to go back to China... so I don't know how that's gonna turn out. But it was nice to have success talking to someone on the street!

 

Friday was another very very long day of trying to find investigators. The woman from Congo just started school so is too busy to meet with us last week. Hopefully we will be able to meet with her this week. The Sisters got their transfer calls that night, Sister Browne (who came in with me) will be training, and her companion Sister Hill is going to be opening a new area and a Sister Training Leader. They were freaking out. It's weird that they got those callings, but it happens when you're a sister.

 

Satuday we helped this lady move out from Story City and into our ward. The Story City elders were doing stuff all day somewhere else, and because we didn't have a car and no members were going, we couldn't find a ride. The Sisters were going to help her move too, but we have to get permission from the President to ride in the car with the sisters and to leave our area. So I called him, and he was... not happy that no members or auxiliary leaders were helping out with any of it. We got permission though, and drove out to a house IN THE MIDDLE OF NO WHERE, and in the middle of a cornfield. We didn't move everything, but there weren't any other people there so it was not very fun. While driving home, The Circle Of Life came on the CD (Missionary approved music is held as a delicacy) and Elder Claridge and I sang it better than Broadway. The sisters want us to perform in church. HAHAHAHA not gonna happen.

 

Read the Book of Mormon with a specific subject in mind. I am reading it right now looking for the promises the Lord gives missionaries, teaching strategies, and scriptures of encouragement. It's way awesome, and I KNOW whatever subject you choose to study, and as you are diligent to it, your testimony of the Book of Mormon and that subject will grow. It's freaking awesome.

 

Before we came over today we got our new sidebags! NEAT!

 

Thank for all of the support and letters! Let me know if I can do anything for any of you! Don't worry, my address isn't going to change for a long time.

 

Love you all,

-Elder Hollan