LUNCH MADNESS!

Well hey, hey guys!

Sooo good to hear from you! I hope all that partying was a blasty-blast! That’s so sick about the iPad! I’m just green with jealous envy about that, papa, ha-ha.  Glad to hear you guys had a great week. Mine was an up and down week.

Last week we had lunch at the same member’s house and ate polenta with a ton of hard boiled eggs in it and I guess I didn’t eat a couple bites of eggs. Now, most people here are really cool about how little or how much food you eat. I’ve been pretty good about eating everything (just to be on the good side) but on occasion you run into true-blooded "I’m smart your dumb, I’m big, your little, I’m right, your wrong" people and this guy and his wife are those people.  I guess the wife got incredibly mad that I didn’t eat, like, two more bites of egg (literally, there were only scraps of egg and polenta left and I tried my best to eat them).  When we went to lunch with them again the husband pulled me aside and furiously demanded that I apologize to his wife for not eating the little bits of egg last week. Then he made all of us (especially me) feel awful and told us we aren’t doing our jobs. The other elders just blew it off and said “whatever” (as they should because this family is only about put downs.  Everyone in our ward says "never listen to them".  It really got me down though, ‘cause he really wasn’t nice about it. Then, right as we left the house, I got a massive cold/headache and I couldn’t think or concentrate for the whole day. It was awful, I felt so bad. That night I prayed that I wouldn’t be mad at this guy (and I was suuuper mad at the time) and that he would stop putting us elders down. Well, the next day I had a feeling it was going to be a good day and my anger towards this guy was sufficiently calmed. Even though when we saw him again, he called me a “failure” and “annoying” I wasn’t mad at him. However, I did get an impression which was: "start going to different families for lunch". Now, we eat with this guy’s family every single Wednesday (and it’s never at all pleasant) but I just had the impression to start eating at other people’s houses. I told Elder Rasmussen this and he said he liked the idea but we were scared to talk to this guy about it. As we were talking about this we were about two doors down from the bishop’s house so decided we would talk to the bishop (not about the lunch incident or anything, just to say “hey”).  When we got there he said to us, "Elders, you guys should start eating at other people’s homes for lunch so you can get to know the ward more. So tell this family you can’t eat with them every Wednesday, you can only eat with them once a month”.  I was speechless. I about wanted to kiss the bishop I was so happy! We don’t have to worry about this guy anymore! And really, I believe my prayer was answered. If you just keep your cool, pray for love, and kill them with kindness (just like you guys said) then it will all be good. That’s my crazy story for the week. I’m all good now!

We got a super good investigator this week. Her name is Mariel and she is 21 and was investigating the church online. She is gold and is ready to be baptized, pretty much. We had a super good first lesson with her and the spirit was really strong there. It was truly a much needed blessing.

Our other investigators are slowly, slowly—ever so dang slowly—getting towards baptism. They just need an extra push and they will be baptized in no time. It’s just kinda frustrating sometimes.

I gave my talk on Sunday and it went...hopefully o.k! I got good comments on it (it was about charity).  It may have sounded like a dyslexic kid wrote the talk but I felt good about it. I felt very at peace once I got through the first little bit of my talk and the closing song after wards was “Love at Home” and now, thinking about it, I think Lorraine may have had a part in that sacrament meeting somehow. Well, that’s just about all that happened this week.....question time!

• Do you want us to update your facebook to show the picture of you and Elder R. walking through the field?

Sure that would be awesome! You guys can do whatever on the facebook (just tell dad to keep his mitts off my music section cause heavens knows he will erase everything and put only Phil Collins in their stead).

• Do you ever print out your email?

No, not always. The printer here is horrible, to say the least.

• Are you taking lots of pictures?

Yes, yes, yes. I’m taking pictures all the time, for sures!

• Any baptisms this week?

No baptisms this week for us. We went to a baptism on Saturday for a little girl in our ward but that’s about it

• Is it cooling down yet?

At night, yes but in the day I like to think it is but I don’t think it really is. It’s supposed to get cool here pretty soon, though.

• Have you used your raincoat yet?

I’ve used my raincoat a few times but mostly the rain catches us off guard but we don’t mind getting a little wet now and then. In the words of Ricky Bobby talking about Powerade in his prayer: "It cools you off on a nice, hot summer’s day."

• Anything cool happen with any of your investigators?

Mostly just with that new investigator. She is really looking for some peace and stability in her life and she says, with this gospel, she is starting to find it.

Well family, that’s about all from me. I’m glad to hear everything is tip-top for you guys. I love you all and miss you all so much.  Thank you for your prayers and your love and everything. I hope you all have a great week. I love you, it’s all good!

Con amor,

Russ

P.S. Could you guys pray for me to be more relaxed when I teach? I’m kind of getting nervous with talking and stuff lately so if you could do that for me it would be nice. 

Oh, and they have good enough toothpaste here so you don’t have to send any, actually. 

I love you so much!

Russ (about to be translated)