Well, this week has been interesting. I actually have some events to report on, which is awesome. I think I will start from the day I got here to today. I got here (to the California Fresno Mission on temporary assignment) last Wednesday.
When I got here, my mission president (Pres. Larry Gelwix) was waiting for me in the Fresno Airport with his wife and with the two assistants. We met up with them and got into a 15-passenger van (which was PACKED) and headed for the mission office. When we got there, there were missionaries waiting for us and we had the ...opportunity... to hug each one of our gender and go down the line.... Ya.... Some of the Elders were not from this country so I got kissed on the cheek a few times. That was awkward.
I met my trainers on Thursday, and they were Elder Whitaker and Elder DeMarco. Elder DeMarco broke his foot playing Rugby (yes, we can play that here -- if you wonder why, research my mission president's name), so he is always limping around on his crutches. That can be fun. On the way from Fresno to our area in Ceres that day, we got in a car wreck. One of the other companionship's was driving and this is what happened: We were driving about 30 mph, and a car in front of us stopped to turn really quickly. We stopped in time to not hit that car so they were able to turn in, but another car hit us from behind and it completely messed up the right side of the trunk and we think that it bent the frame of the car as well. We are pretty sure that the car is totaled, so we got a new one. The one that wrecked was a some sort of Ford.... Now we have a Chevy truck. It is awesome. Also, we got an investigator out of the crash: the other driver. Cool!
So, the fruit here is amazing. I will not eat pineapple anywhere else. I love it! I especially love watermelon on a hot summer day.... Which is basically every day. Anyway, I had the opportunity to confirm two people as members of the Church last Sunday. We did it in Sacrament meeting, but that is not as scary as it sounds because there were only 63 members there. I have never even been in one of those circles before, so I think it is interesting that they had me do the prayer. It was an amazing experience though! We have 3 more people lined up for baptism in the next month, so that will be pretty exciting.
During one of the reactivation lessons for a less-active members, we heard a gunshot. It was pretty cool. It was on the street next to the house (at least that is how close it sounded) and it was probably a .45. We don't know if anyone was killed, but ya, it happened. I am cool.
I guess that I should say what the most interesting part of the mission is. Kind of like how the MTC was different from what I expected, the mission field is different. I always thought of missionaries as people that went tracting and that was about it. In this mission at least, the missionaries are basically living parts of the Church. You know how buildings and temples are owned by the Church? That is similar to what we are. We are expected to live lives that represent the highest standards of the Church because we literally are the Church -- the walking and talking versions, at least. It is pretty cool. We help to activate members, make the active members stronger and more active in missionary work, and to find new investigators. One of the things that I have learned is that we should talk to EVERYONE. Like, EVERYONE. It is pretty crazy how many people we talk to. Ya.
Anyway... I love letters and I would love to hear from you all! I am sorry if I have not responded to you yet... I have been pretty busy moving my things around lately. I will try to get on replying to those.
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