Week 78...18 Months in the Mission All GOBBLED Up!!!

December 1, 2014

Hello to all…I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I know I sure did, I stuffed my face.  The fantastic thing is that I gained no weight.  I’ve lost about 10 pounds in 18 months.  I guess that is the benefit I get for being in the walk area.  Well onto the questions. 

 

1.  How was your week?  What were you highs/lows?  This week has been an AWESOME week.  Thanksgiving was a pretty great.  It was a nice day to spend with the members and get to know them a little bit better.  My first high is that I am going to finish the BOM tomorrow.  I am on Moroni 9 as we speak.   I’m going to start the New Testament next.  Another high was dinner at the Bellefonte Bishop’s house last week.  We had an awesome lesson discussing why it is important to share the gospel.  The spirit was very strong and hopefully we can get some referrals out of it.  A rather cool/weird thing happened last week after emailing you.  We went to lunch and the kid that was serving our food recognized me and asked me where I was from.  Of course, I told him Utah.  He said he knew me from somewhere but we couldn’t quite figure it out.   I did not recognize him but after talking a bit we figured out that we both were on SLCC student council together.  Once we figured that out I kind of recognized him.  He was on a different board than me (there were over 100 of us).  It was weird that out of all the places to run into him, I meet him at the Penn State food court.  He is going to Penn State now and his parents live in Philly.  He is not a member but I guess the sisters got a media referral for him.  He is interested from what the sisters say.  The low has probably been the weather, I’m not really ready for winter. 
2. How was your Thanksgiving Day?   It was awesome!  We started the day with a Turkey Bowl with the Bellefonte ward.  We played for a few hours and then headed back and got ready.  Our first meal was at 1:00 pm.  We were invited to the Bellefonte ward mission leader’s house.  They had a big group of about 30 people there with a bunch of their extended family.  It was pretty fun.  We had the typical Thanksgiving food.  PS…a lady that was there is a sister in law with Vic and Jan Johansen’s daughter, Erica (the one that lives in Vegas).  Small world, huh?  After we went to Sis. V’s  for our 2^nd dinner.  We had a lot of fun there too.  Yes, it was just the 3 of us at Sis. V’s.  We were at each place for a couple of hours. 

3.     How much snow did you get on Wednesday?  Did it snarl any of your plans?  We probably got about 6 inches but it did not ruin any of our plans. 

4.     How did things go with your ward…as far as you making it back to your ward?  Can you go on your own?   What time is your church?   Church is at 9 AM.  Yes, I can go on my own.  I just have to get another priesthood holder the last 2 hours to be my companion.  The 3 of us went to my sacrament meeting this week and then we split from there. 

6.  How are things going with the investigators?

 

a. What about the boyfriend/girlfriend in Bellefonte?  I have not seen them since our last meeting.  They seem to be doing good and hopefully we are having another lesson this week.  They both came to church. 

b. YL?  We were finally able to contact them the other day.  We only had a lesson with her husband.  That was kind of difficult because he does not speak English very well and with Elder R Rosen gone it was kind of difficult.  When YL is there she speaks a little better English so it is easier to communicate. 

c. B?  He is pretty much dropped.  But he did come to church yesterday, however, I did not get a chance to talk to him. 

d. Other people you’re teaching in either area?  We’re still trying to teach  L & M.  We have a lesson set with them for Wednesday. 

e.  Any new leads?  No

 

9.  How are things going with Elder J & Elder R?  Things are going good.  It is about the same as the first trio I was in.  We all get along great.  The biggest thing is I feel like Elder J sometimes lack motivation and does not really care.  He ignores little rules here and there.  We talked about it on Friday at the end of our weekly planning.  We discussed how we can be better unified and more obedient.  So far it seems to be working with the goals that we have set. 

10. Any mission news/details this week?  No, not that I can think of. 

11. Is your zone conference this week?  Yes, Thursday in State College. 

FYI…Elder R arrived in Taiwan with his group from the MTC and all is well for him there.  He’s been emailing me updates and says things are going well with his new comp.  He said he misses Pennsylvania and being comps with me.  He said he learned a lot of good things that he’s trying to implement in Taiwan.  He said he doesn’t have anymore “bad VISA days” J  It’s fun to hear from him and hear about his success.

PS…exactly 6 months from today I will be making final preparations packing to come home.  I know it’s a CRAZY thing to think. 

Love you,

Elder Muir