Thinking (7/27/20)

Okie dokie, my little friends. I say this like I am bigger, older, taller, or just adultier than everyone else when in fact I am not. I am trying to think of a theme for this week. Or just something good to start with. 

Mmmm, I got annoyed for like a combined total of 12 minutes I guess. It all started on Tuesday. Keep in mind, I was not actually annoyed just bummed out for like 3 minutes then got over it. I went on tradeoffs with the Spanish elders, and we had fun. We taught 2 English classes and went to a member's house for dinner and had tres leches cake. They said it was more like 2 and a half milks because they didn't put a ton in, so it was a little dry. But hey, it was still good and full of milk in the corners. We were at home at this point, and then the other elders come home and bust open the door and they had yo-yos and film cameras. The yo-yos took it back to elementary school, and I had been wanting my nice camera to take pictures and make videos, and they come back with film cameras. A member gave them film cameras. I was like, "The one day that I'm not there, the member just gives them stuff." I got over it after like 2 minutes because I was like do you even know where you can get that developed? No. So what are you going to do with it after your 24 pictures are taken? So I promptly was glad that I didn't have to carry that around for the rest of my mission because I would worry about it too much. And besides, they didn't get cake. We did. Also my comp is good at literally everything. It is rather impressive.

On Wednesday I got annoyed again for like 4 minutes (maybe?). I made a grilled cheese in a pan that looked clean but was in reality used to make broccoli. So my grilled cheese tasted like broccoli. Those 4 minutes were the 4 minutes it took me to eat it. Then, now actually, it is hilarious. I made a broccoli grilled cheese. Ha. I left my sheets in the washer for like the whole day. I remembered and went to put them in the dryer, and there were already things in the dryer. I ended up sleeping on dry sheets! So that's a nice little miracle. I didn't think my sheets would be dry or smell good. There was another 2 minutes of annoyance. So we're up to about 9 minutes in total now. We had dinner at a member's house, and we had a ton of tacos. At the end of dinner, he was like, "Elders, marry your best friend so then it's just a sleep-over every night." Just out of nowhere. Then we left. An elder got the wiffle ball out of the tree, and I felt like a happy little kid just looking at him get it out after a few minutes haha. We finished a puzzle, and there is one piece missing. We also have a random punching bag outside that is full of ants. Yuck.

Food from the Honduran lady

Thursday we got up at 6:30 and left at 7 to get to service at 7:30. We built a ramp at somebody's house, and it was way fun. Who would have thought that building a ramp in front of somebody's house would be fun? But we were there until like 1:30. It rained, so we got buffalo wild wings. It was a buy one get one free. Literally the runts of all the wings. There were a few that you were eating, and it was just breaking your teeth and there was no chicken inside. We were soaked with rain, go in there and it's like 55 degrees, and there's 6 guys just sitting at a table shivering trying to move around eating these hot hot sauce wings. They don't warm you up. They just burn your mouth, and in turn you forget you are cold. Heh. What an experience. We walked outside and were relieved when we got blasted by hot humidity. Our car was also pouring liquid into the passenger seat floor. No idea what it was. 

But we got it fixed on Friday. When we went to Tire Kingdom they were super confused like, your car is dumping water onto the floor? Yes. Are you sure? Yes, I'm sure. Why else would I be in here? They ended up cleaning out the A/C drain tube. Nice. We had a lesson with a cool guy who speaks Portuguese, and it was way fun. We were at the church with him and we did a little tour of the church and he was very impressed and said he wanted to come every week! Nice. We had a devotional about the roles of men and women, more specifically Adam and Eve and how everybody has responsibilities like them. It was so cool. 

Saturday was good. I had a video call with a member from Brazil, and we read the Book of Mormon as our language study. We helped somebody move today, and I was expecting some huge move and it was going to be awful and a ton of little things just thrown in the truck. No. They had the biggest truck you can get and when we had taken everything out of their house, it filled half the truck. We were so happy, and so were they. We also did some more service later that day. We have been helping in a backyard breaking up brick, stones, leveling it all out, etc. From the first week we went there, it looks way bigger and way better. 

One of the elders said this is Benny's
go-on-a-field-trip-with-little-kids hat.

Sunday was a fun long day. We had 2 sessions of church for one ward and then 1 session for the other ward. We helped with the sacrament for the first 2, and it was fun to see everybody there and take the sacrament and be in church again. We went home for lunch and then came back, and I gave a talk. It was short and probably not very sweet. I introduced myself and talked about my favorite scripture. It was probably all over the place because I didn't finish any of my thoughts hahaha and then talked about what it means to be a missionary. I did a classic 2 minutes, I think. Maybe 3. I don't know what it is, but when you get up to the pulpit, FEAR enters the body, and then EVERYONE is watching you, and you absolutely CANNOT do anything wrong or else death, doom, and destruction will follow. Not really because in reality everyone is just happy to see you and you can do whatever up there and it won't matter. Haha. We were at the institute for a while after, making things and being in calls, and yeah. We got dinner and went back to the institute for another meeting and then went home and went to bed. It was so nice to get in bed. 

Pencils

And here we are today. I am taking up lots of your time, and I didn't do much today. We went to the store and bought juice. I like juice. But it's usually better in Brazil. Or fresher, thus better. We went to Ross, and it was actually nice. Not like a thrift store where you can smell diseases. Went to Guitar Center, then went to Hibbet Sports. They had a weird Nike, Zumiez, Pac Sun store vibe to it. Extremely expensive. Clothing that is sometimes a little strange. But FASHION. Heh. Nice. Also no idea what days these happened. Got pencils from my family. The hat was today. Also bought an electric razor. The chicken was Friday? It was a Honduran lady who made it. Had plantains and whatever the pink and yellow stuff was.

I also don't know where the other 3 minutes of annoyance were in the week, so I guess it was 9 minutes in total.

A lot, then a little more (7/20/20)

What did you do this week? A lot, then a little more. How much fun was this week? A lot, then a little more (That actually makes no sense). How was your week? A lot, then a little more (This makes the least sense). But in reality these last two weeks have been great. Thankful for my journal next to me that tells me all that I did because I can't remember anything because I have slept since then. So I will try to make it short enough to keep it interesting but long enough to cover everything. SO. 

Monday 6th. I bought some dark chocolate. 92% cocoa, and it has a very earthy dirt flavor to it. The first two pieces were kinda gross, not going to lie, but after that when it melts in your mouth it is just wonderful. My comp ate some later in the week because he was wondering why I liked it so much. He then went outside and spit it out gagging because he said it was the worst thing he has ever tasted. Nice. We went to a hot dog place, and I just realized I've already talked about that bacon wrapped mac and cheese hot dog. Soooo.

On Tuesday the 7th, I did a whole lotta nothin'. But we were on an institute class (Zoom), and we talked about the facsimiles in Abraham, and that was some deep stuff. Really interesting. I would 112% recommend it. We taught an awesome lesson about Alma 30-31 for Come Follow Me and then went to the post office and there was legit 1 person working there. Then we came out to pouring rain haha. That's Florida. 

Wednesday 8th, I had a cool dream and I was playing tag with a flashlight and then woke up and was like who was that in the dream? Literally NOBODY KNOWS. Why that was the first thing I said, I have no idea. There were times in Brazil that the first thing I would say to my companion was "What did you study?" during comp study at like 9:30. My comp was a little confused when, at 6:30 am, I asked "Who was that?" My comp was like what the heck are you saying. I have no idea. Sorry dude. We filmed a post for our Facebook page. It was Elder Kemp talking about how he came on a mission. It was way cool. While we were editing the video, I was looking up cameras to buy, because you know, I'm just in the market to but a $30,000 cinema camera. Heh. Also we tried filming another video with Skittles and discovered that they dissolve completely in water in about 45 minutes. Nice. We had dinner at a member's house, and they made us homemade pizza. It was way good. 

Thursday 9th, this person who is a fake person or just someone who is trying to scam somebody is texting my comp, and it is hilarious. Later this week, other elders were like yo this person is texting us saying the same thing they said to you! Heh. We helped somebody move today, and we were like oh, little 1 bedroom 1 bathroom apartment, it'll be quick. Nah. It was like the song, Well the years (stuff) don't stop comin'... yeah. But we get there and somebody starts yelling at us that we're in the wrong place, then we started to walk away and they were like WHAT, YOU SCARED OF ME OR SOMTHIN'? HUH? HUH?! GET BACK HERE AND TALK TO ME!! They then started to come to our car, and we were like well this sucks. They went to the other car, though, and they basically said they want money. Heh. Yeah that's going to be a no for me, dog. 

Friday 10th. GOODNESS. THIS. DAY. WAS. LONG. Not really. We just went and helped somebody move for 5 hours. Heh. She actually just called us yesterday and said she was mad at us for the way we packed some things. Ookkkkk. Sorry we put a TV in the trunk of your car with a little wood thing on top. Would you rather it have gone into the back of a U-haul truck? Mmmmmm. Oh well. But we were there for a while. We got there and were like it'll be like an hour or two like yesterday. Heh, no. We fit sooo much stuff in there! We could have gotten on a game show and won or something. I feel bad for the people helping them unpack because when they open it up, the first thing they will see is a bed frame acting as a wall or gate holding in a mountain of things. Hehehe. We washed the car after we got home. They also got us Jimmy Johns. I went with the Spanish elders to go hang out and play soccer with a kid they are teaching, and it still blows my mind (not really) that 8-year-olds and 10-year-olds are better than me at soccer. Given he is from South America and anyone who is from South America is better than most at soccer, but still. I'm like 10 years older than this li'l guy, and he makes me look like I'm walking on my hands trying to play. He was so good haha. 

Saturday 11th. We went to Zone Conference today, and it was way good. The vehicle manager coordinator person asked us about our car, and we were like well crap. He then called us up to the front in front of everybody and was asking us about how we have taken care of our car, if we did, what we did, etc. Basically interrogation, and you could see the veins of stress popping out in our faces. He then says, good job your car is the cleanest here. Whut. We were 100% expecting to have our car taken away from us, and then he's like it's the cleanest. Ok, I won't argue that! We went and did service after, and we are continuing to tear up this back yard and break some bricks and concrete. It's kinda fun. 

Sunday 12th. Our mission made a video called #FeelTheDifference. I would 138,000 million % go watch it. It is so good. Our mission made it, and so that's pretty cool. We had a nice little breakfast for dinner with the compound, and that was cool. We had a few more calls in the evening, and then we also saw a stick bug on a door so that was cool. I asked the people we were with if I could keep him or at least bring it into their house and give it some water or something. They said no so I was like, ok. Crazy how people name animals: stick bug, leaf bug, praying mantis, all things they look like or have seen them like. A banana spider. That one is strange because they don't look like bananas. So I guess they messed that one up. Or the bird eating spider. Maybe some guy saw this spider eating a bird. That's going to be a no for me. 

Anyway, we are finally into this last week. 

Monday was great. We went disk golfing. which is golf but with frisbees, like last month or whenever I went last. Florida is like "wear your mask even if you are alone" instead of trying to make a stricter quarantine again. There's more to it like businesses dying and stuff but like, I dunno. I'm glad I'm not in the gubament. There was the li'l tiny frog today [picture last week]. We went to goodwill, and it kinda just smells like an old tired musty disease, while Corona is like a college party crazy and energetic disease. My comp bought a pitching wedge for $1. Nice. We have been having fun with that even though I am awful at golfing. 

Tuesday. District council was good. We either have to be socially distanced or wear masks. Mmmm. So we just moved the tables really far apart. Problem solved. We did another awesome institute call today, and we learned about Joseph Smith-Matthew. So cool. I would also recommend learning about that. We got pizza and then went and did some more service. And that's about it.

Wednesday. The natural man is an enemy to God. Yes he is. We talked about that a lot today for some reason. Did some studying in the Book of Mormon, and that was fun. A member gave us some copies of the Book of Mormon at dinner because he didn't want them because one was in French and another was in Spanish. We had pasta at their house, and it was a great time there. We have discovered that the pitching wedge will hit a golf ball too far, and we actually wanna swing, and ping pong balls break when you hit them hard, and the wiffle ball I bought got stuck in the tree, but we found a tennis ball, and that actually works great. So if you have a pitching wedge you got for a dollar and a tennis ball, it's rather fun and you don't have to be at a golf course. Nice. I'm just here to give some knowledge. Whether it is good knowledge or not, that's up to you but I think this is something great to know. 

Thursday, yeah. Hmm. Today happened. [We got word today that one of Benny's best friends was in a serious accident. We messaged him to let him know.] We also met our bishop. He's way cool. He does not like masks. Neither does like anyone I have met. Heh. Nice. Not really. But he still wears it. My comp tried to make friends with a random cat that came to the door. We also built a person-lifting-thing machine, to lift people who can't lift themselves. It was good fun because we got to build it. I guess I was itching to build something. So this was it. Also if you know of anything fun to do with hydrogen peroxide, send those suggestions our way. It's like 99 cents for a big bottle. Because we bought one for my comp. Now we have a big bottle of it. Just sitting there, waiting, for you to send us a message telling us how to blow something up. I DUNNO. Actually don't do that. I don't want to get sent home again. Hahaha. 

Friday. Friday happened also. [And we told Benny today that his friend died.] We had a nice comp study. I finally got some Portuguese music on my phone, and so that was cool. We did some more of a round color wheel puzzle and got 5-dollar-Friday smoothies at Smoothie King. It was nice. I was craving top ramen for some reason. 

Saturday, we dropped a Bible off somewhere, and we're going down this road, and this dude was just following behind us. Walking. And we were driving on this dirt road. Kinda really thought he was going to kill us. We got out with the Bible and our white shirts and ties. He squinted his eyes at us and then turned around and walked away. People in the South are very serious about "trespassers will be shot first and questioned later." Kinda stupid. You even go near their house, and they'll pull out a shotgun and tell you to leave. Like chill bro, I'm just walking on the sidewalk. Goodness. (That didn't happen to me; this is just an example.) The elders next door, their ac broke so we had a sleepover! They came over here and slept in the living room hahah. It was fun. 

Sunday. we went to church today for the YSA ward so that was fun. There was like 26 of us. I listened to a bit of the conference talk "Our Campfire Of Faith." I don't remember much because I tried listening to it and reading it, but everyone was talking and I was like this sucks. So if you listen to it for me that would be great. It's by Elder Gong. We visited some members and shared a video with them. Ok now to the important stuff. That other stuff is important but ok, yes, here we go: there was a car out front, and I was like there's a cover on it but it looks like a Mustang, and it had some nice rims and we leave and I'm like hey is that your car. hehe. Pulls the cover off and its a Shelby GT500. MMMMMMMMMMM. Before he could even say "Do you want to hear it?", his son was in the car with the keys hahahaha. I'm standing like a foot away from the exhaust pipe because I'm pulling the cover off the pipe, and he starts it and hearing that sweet sweet V8 start up brought the biggest smile of the century to my face. It's not hard to do that though. I end up smelling lots of gas, so I took a little step back and they were all laughing at me because I was so excited. I then told them about how V8s are a necessity because they only have 1 downside. I forgot what it was, so it's not that important I guess. But another downside is gas mileage, but that doesn't matter because I'm in the business of Smiles Per Gallon, not miles per gallon. You should be too. Take the jump. Buy a V8. You wont regret it. Maybe you will, I dunno, but I can't think of any reasonable reasons as to why you wouldn't. 

Monday. Today. We went to a park, and there were about 1,200 million billion bugs there. The only cure for that one is fire. Or just don't go. I took like 2 pictures. Ha. But I bought more wiffle balls because I got my only one stuck in a palm tree. 

In conclusion, WASH YOUR HANDS. Literally the only thing my parents told me over and over and over before everything. Wash your hands. So do that, and you probably won't get Corona. And be smart. O be wise what can I say more? Anyway, smile at somebody you don't know because you'll never see them again. They also may not see because you have a mask on. But maybe smile at somebody you do know also. You'll see them again, and maybe they'll smile at you. 

(7/13/20)

Just pictures and descriptions this week.

The soccer ball that got destroyed and an elder cut it in half and cut holes out of it.

Breakfast for dinner with the compound for Sunday dinner.

Lil frogo or frogger

We also did service like 3 days last week, moved 2 people, dug up a back yard and broke cement off of bricks and it was like 10 hours in total. It was quite a bit. 

The moving truck.

While we were moving.

And the car we packed for moving.

Uuhhhh (7/6/20)

I cannot think really about anything right now. The mission veil is very real. When we came to the earth we went through the veil of forgetfulness. Yeah, that's a real thing coming into the mission. But for me it is useless things like how do you rebuild the carburetor on a Briggs and Stratton lawnmower engine? Or does that Camaro have an LS2 or an LS3? Does the C5 Corvette have another engine in the special edition Z06 or did it just have a better 5.7 350? Questions questions questions that will be answered when I come home. Oh well. Not important. But what is important is Jesus. And to be able to come closer to Jesus you need to be alive, well, not really but for this example yes, but no, but yes. But if you want to be alive you need to be healthy. I tried that last week. I ate some grapes. It was good. Some raspberries too. I'd recommend. 

But that was on Monday. Also on Monday some people came over to look at the houses we live in to make sure they are ok, and they brought a little boy and I took the liberty of watching this li'l 5-year-old play a game on his tablet. That was the most fun I've had in quarantine, hangin' out with a 5-year-old. Something really funny, 5-year-olds are like people who don't have a filter; they just say whatever comes to mind. Rather funny until it's your own kid, so I laughed but the parents did not hehe. We had a wonderful lesson after about temples and it was good fun. 

Tuesday was entertaining. District council was really good. We were talking about new ways to use Facebook because we have no idea how to be missionaries on Facebook. Then we were told that cookies soften hearts, so we decided to put that into play with some people we taught. We gave them some Oreo ball things, and they responded to us! So if somebody is mad at you, make them some cookies and it will soften their hearts. Unless they have a peanut allergy and you make peanut butter cookies. Then that might not soften their heart. They'll maybe need a mattress to soften the fall to the floor because they might be dying. DON'T EAT FOODS YOU ARE ALLERGIC TO! Also if you die when you eat Panda Express, like me, don't eat Panda Express. You, like me, will probably die again. Like I did. We got that after, and I was like I haven't had this in a few years, I think I'll be fine. No. But I got a great fortune cookie out of it. It says, "A pleasant surprise is in store for you." Nice. We did a Come Follow Me lesson after I died. But there was a miracle in it because God was helping me to not die. It was wonderful. All you have to do is ask God for help and He will help you. (I am trying to make these things more spiritual.) The rest of the day was pretty normal. 

Wednesday was cool. We went to the church to try to do Facebook missionary work, and I ended up speaking like 2 words in Spanish to somebody who the Spanish Elders were teaching. The words are the same in Portuguese but said with a Spanish accent. heh. But I had a great conversation with somebody who likes shining shoes and taking pictures. Didn't make it to the gospel, but I still talked to him which was cool. We had dinner at a member's house, and I feel so bad because they thought there was just going to be 2 of us then 4 showed up haha. oops. We told them but maybe they forgot? I dunno. But they know now! They were so cool. It was weird to shake hands and sit down at a table with other people. It was good though. We then went and picked up a mission car and drove it to the zone leaders' house and then we drove back to the other elders' house then got them and drove to our house, and it was just chaos. But it was fun. Learned who is referred to in D&C 116: The Ancient of Days is Adam, actually. Pretty cool. We made a smoothie. We put granola in it, and that wasn't really my idea but I just went with it and it turned out good. Maybe just eat it with granola but don't blend it up? Still good whatever you do though. We learned about brown recluse spiders. I do not have a picture, don't worry, but don't look it up. Its venom burns the flesh off your body where it bit you, and then it basically leaves your skin dissolving. But it's pretty hard to miss seeing--it's the size of a hand, so I have been told. I do not want to discover. I sprayed the corners of the room with bug spray after that haha. PARANOIA. 

Thursday was interestingly weirdly great. My comp and an elder next door went on a job through the campus because I ain't about that. We had a morning mission devotional; it was great fun. We had a nice weekly planning sesh. Came up with some ideas for videos that we might do. We made those Oreo balls. Again. heh. We tried baking pasta. We wanted chicken but we ate all our chicken nuggets (we are too cheap to buy a 5- or 10-pound bag of chicken, defrost it, then cook it, then put it in the pasta), so we did the next worst option--chicken fingers. It was actually rather good: a God-given miracle mixture that we probably will never make again. :) Looked for new Facebook pages to join, was very unsucceessffuull. Tried playing the piano. We joined a little Bible study Zoom thing with some other people, and they were yet again surprised that we didn't try to shove the Book of Mormon down their throats, even though the Book of Mormon answered literally every question they asked. Oh well. I also saw a video of all the American missionaries leaving Brazil in the airport, and I found me in it. I remember people at the airport making videos, and I thought nothing of it. Then when I saw it I was like, I know them and them and them and them and oh that's me, nice. 

Friday was entertaining and exhausting. I got 100% ready, and then we had service in like an hour. Nice. We went out and did that: we dug up a pond, moved wood, broke cement, tore out a ton of bushes and plants, and then filled in the pond we tore out. Normally that's ok, but I haven't done anything like this in months and months, so I was out of breath, then to top it off there's a weird thing called humidity. That boy gets ya. She gave us pizza after and then we were like ok, left and the rest of the day was like mmmmmmm do we have to do this we are so tired. We had lasagna for dinner, and it was so good. We did a mission Kahoot also, so that was fun. It was like 60 questions. I got the first 16 right the second I read the question. Then after that I was like I have used all my knowledge, good luck. It was about the Book of Mormon. Sorry I forgot how many months it took for the people of Nephi to become wicked again after Christ was born and they had received the signs of it. I'll get 'em next time. 

WELCOME TO THE 4TH OF JULY. Happy birthday, America. We finished up a trade off today by going to the store and buying lemonade. We had hot dogs today, and they killed me at 3 am. I've noticed a lot of things are killing me, so I should just stay away from them. Probably wise. I also somehow got a bunch of blood on my white shirt. I didn't even shave my face today. Oh well. We also had cake and other things at our li'l bbq. 

Sunday was fun, we didn't take the sacrament because I wasn't feeling so red hot and everyone was like do you have the flu? Not that I know of. Well, Corona is just like the flu for the first week. Ok, thanks, I guess I have Corona. We went to a member's house and had dinner, and it was so good. As always. The rolls and mashed potatoes had so much butter that it was pooling on the sides and on the top. That may sound disgusting to some people, but once you mix it in or dip it in, that is what Heaven will taste like. I dished an entire plate of mashed potatoes to take home hehe. We took the sacrament, and it is a blessing to have the priesthood here on earth and in our homes. We also had pork chops. 

And Monday was good. We got hot dogs, and as if I didn't want my stomach to kill me even more, this boy had mac and cheese on it. And it was wrapped in bacon. If hot dogs don't mess you up, the place we ate at is called Voodoo Dogs. Kinda felt like a 70's or 80's stoner place. It would fit right in in California. But if, for some weird reason, you are at the FSU campus and you are craving a bacon wrapped hot dog that you can put anything on, go to Voodoo Dogs. I also listened to a few Conference talks. If you get the chance y'all should do that. I didn't plan ahead this last week, so I don't have a scripture to share.

Welp. Part 2 (6/29/20)

So the first email I sent didn't send, and now he's GoNe. SpOoKy. Either that or the draft didn't save. Maybe God didn't want me to send what I was going to send. I will tread lightly now. Get ready for super extremely vague. So on the day last week (vague) we did stuff. Then on the next day we did...more stuff (super vague). I've been thinking a lot about marriage recently actually (change the topic, super extremely vague). But in reality, this last week was a pretty good week. Good, but not like, good. You know? Here's the scale of good: 

Good---------------------Good--------------------Good

Here is ok.           Here is actually             Here is  

Meh ish                      good.                      actually

                                                                  amazing.

So this week was on the left. We were doing good. Just good. Such a weird word: good. Ha. Good. OKAY. AAHHHH. (I'm actually sitting here emotionless). 

Monday. Was. Good. (The middle) It was transfers last week, so we went to the church and signed transfer journals. So if you're leaving, you have a little journal and people write in it. Really awkward if you don't know them super well, but you make it work. Or if you spell their name wrong. Heh. Oops. For the rest of the day, we just kinda messed around. We went to Walmart and turned into juice connoisseurs. We bought orange juice, lemonade, pineapple mango, fruit punch, raspberry lemonade, apple juice, and I already had pineapple juice. Probably not the best to substitute meals for lots and lots of juice. Yum. We had a nice lesson with a member today. Can't believe I forgot this. We drove around for like 3 hours. We went to Barnes and Noble, and my comp bought decks of cards. We went to a guitar store, and he bought a harmonica. We also took the other elders to the Toyota dealership to get their oil changed, for like 2 hours. It was. Good (far left)

Tuesday. Was. Good. (The right) It was my mom's birthday. Got to call her. We went to Walmart and bought the most Utah thing ever apparently: sparkling cider. We are in the check out line behind 2 college girls with wine, white claw, etc. We show up with Martinelli's and Welch's sparkling cider. HA. I felt so out of place. We had another Come Follow Me lesson today. We had some rain. The thunder was rattling random stuff in the house. That's how you know it's a good one. The plates start rattling. Heh. Later that night we celebrated the elders who were leaving. Then somebody pulled up to the house and yells, "Y'all straight?" Um, yes? (Side note: this can also mean, what are you doing here, what is your business here, are you going to arrest me or kill me.) So then that was just weird. College isn't even a thing right now. Take your drunk selves home and drive the porcelain bus later tonight. That was kinda mean. Sorry. But if you don't drink, you don't throw up, and you don't get hungover. ANYWAY.

Wednesday was bueno. (This one is new.) We went to transfers, which is, elders and sisters get in a van and drive to a different city and other elders and sisters get off that same van. I played frisbee with the elders next door there. We had some good rain during it, and we were standing next to somebody's luggage, hoping they didn't leave it. They came back for it, so we are all good. We went home, and an elder stayed with us until his new companion showed up. 

Thursday was an adventure. We drove to Lake City today to get 1 missionary. How long you may ask? "It'll be like an hour tops" heh. Multiply by 4. So we get there and we're hangin' out. We see other missionaries for some reason, then the missionary we need comes, he learned Creole in Cape Verde, pretty cool. But he was called as a Portuguese-speaking missionary, learned Portuguese, gets to his mission, and everyone is speaking Creole. Nice. 

Friday. Was. Good. (Middle) Some elders stopped by, got the church key, gave us Mexican candy his mom sent him, and gave us a puzzle. We played more mancala. I lose 98% of the time. We have played like 20 times, and I've won 2 times. So any tips or tricks or strategies, I would love to hear. It's probably not that easy though. My comp is literally so good at everything. He has had a harmonica for 4 days now, already knows 5 or 6 songs. Most by memory. We made little Oreo bite things. You blend up 1 pack of Oreos, mash 8 oz of cream cheese with them, roll them into balls, pour almond bark (fancy word for chocolate) on the top, cool for like 2 minutes and eat. They are great. We had a great devotional from President Lund. Way cool. Told us a bunch of miracles and stories and it was awesome. It went a little long but it was worth it.

And here we have Saturday. If you can't tell by now it was.... good. (Leftish middle-ish) Patience was tested today. Everyone is entitled to opinions. Everyone can have them. It is good for people to have them. Until they are wrong. I don't care who you are, the 4th of July is not an overrated holiday. We are going to leave it at that. We had a Zoom call with the elders and sisters in our area and had everyone introduce themselves. I did my classic little double-jointed thumbs action. The question was what is your 10-second talent. There was another Zoom call and the question was what animal would you have as a pet? Sloth. Maybe a giraffe. A leopard zebra horse thing with a purple tongue and 40 foot long neck? I'd ride it like a horse. Put a saddle on it. Cowboy hat and boots, a big belt buckle. Imagine seeing somebody ride a giraffe. Hehe. 

So here, we had a good Sunday. (Right) We had lots of calls today. I'll try to order them. Two ward coordination meetings, a Zoom call with a few people from the mission, a phone call with some elders and sisters in our area, a phone call to half the missionaries in Tallahassee, 3 calls from the same person looking for a Gale? Dale? No idea. And that was all throughout the day. My companion does NOT like Sundays because he hates how many calls he has to make and receive. We saw the new Corvette C8 in the wild driving down the freeway. Nice. Florida has some nice cars, if you go to the right places. We took the sacrament to a few people and then went to a member's house for dinner. We are allowed outside now it feels like. Then Corona cases in Florida jumped a ton. We might not go outside for a while. We had burgers and I tell you what, the meat itself reminded me of Brazilian portions for food. One-pound burger patties. Enough fries to put McDonald's out of business, and a tub of banana pudding big enough to swim in. It was so good. 

But I will say something spiritual because I never do that, so, here's Mosiah 2:41

41 And moreover, I would desire that ye should consider on the blessed and happy state of those that keep the commandments of God. For behold, they are blessed in all things, both temporal and spiritual; and if they hold out faithful to the end they are received into heaven, that thereby they may dwell with God in a state of never-ending happiness. O remember, remember that these things are true; for the Lord God hath spoken it.

^I like that^

                  

I could talk about today but I've already written more than half the Harry Potter books in this one day I feel like, so here's a picture of me eating bacon, the Mexican candy, and a wax melter that makes the house smell good. #CollegeDormRoomLife #DoesEveryGirlHaveOneOfThese?

#HowManyTimesDoISayGood???????