Week 19 - Whitewashing in the boonies with my best friends dad

 What’s up weekly

This week was super interesante so let’s jump right into it. One of the big highlights though is that I’ve been having to shave almost every day!!! I’m so pumped! By the time I’m home I might even be able to grow a beard!!! 

1. New comp/apt/area/life info

2. The Paris Designers

3. Concluding remarks

1. So yea this week was interesting. It feels like I’m in a different mission now. I got yeeted out of Frontenac which was really hard. But just like I did when I first came to the mission field, I have accepted my fate and am doing much better. My future lies here in the boonies, and I’m going to have to accept that.

So yes, I am in the straight boonies. There’s like 10 people in the city, and that includes me and my new comp. Jk there’s more than 10 but still it’s super small. 

And my new comp is...Elder Powell! This is hilarious because Elder Powell is Elder Pugsley’s trainer, or “dad”. We were all pretty shook when we heard it. Elder Pugsley is training too so that’s exciting. I pulled aside his trainee at transfers and warned him about a weird language that Elder Pugsley will speak periodically and just told him not to worry about it. 

But yea my new area is PARIS!!!! (illinois). Yuh, it’s nothing like Paris. Not that I’ve been to Paris, but I know this aint it.

Our apt is actually super nice. We have a freaking garage!!! It’s hilarious. Good spot to put our new 2021 equinox. I was super sad to see Steph go, but am happy to have another equinox. We named him...Remi! As in Remi from ratatouille, because we’re in la fwance. So that’s cool. But anyways, it was also a sisters apt before us, so that’s been interesting. We’ve been finding weird stuff all over the apartment. There’s also little signs all over our apartment that say things like “Girl Gang!” and “Daughter of God” and such. But we’re both too lazy to take any of the stuff down so it’s still there. 

 

2. So me and Elder Powell are whitewashing, which means that we’re both in an area neither of us have ever been in, so basically we know absolutely nothing. But anyways, when we talked to the sisters at transfers they told us that we were the designers! We didn’t really know what it meant but we were super hyped about it. 

So we were both pretty sure the designer thing was for the facebook page, but when we came across some paint and canvases in our apartment, we knew we had to get designing. So before we went to bed we spent time creating art pieces to hang around the apartment. They are pretty stunning. We also had some other Elder’s stopping by our apartment and we wanted to hang all of these weird paintings up to confuse them and then for us to blame it on the sisters. When they came over and saw a weird painting we’d just be like “yea elders we don’t know what that is...it was just hanging up when we got here” haha. It was big time funny. 

But anyways, it’s been really weird taking over the sisters spot. We were still in a group message with all the sisters in the zone and they didn’t realize we were still there and literally, in the group chat that we ourselves are in, there were like “yea now there are Elders in Paris, which we all know was not the best idea”. I was like “WHAT” and then they called us and apologized. But apparently they were roasting us because since we're “Elders” we don’t know how to be “artsy” and “design”, so they are taking our designer role and giving it to a different set of sisters. I was outraged. I was like “all we’ve been doing the past week is designing” and then sent them some pictures of the paintings me and Elder Powell created to further attest to that statement.

That really confused them, and they were like “you realize it’s a virtual design” and we were like “wait wut”. Anyways, not sure if that story made any sense, but in essence: 

1. Me and Elder Powell took over a sisters apartment

2. Created really ugly paintings and hung them up everywhere so the Elders who came by would be confused

3. Got told by the sisters that we couldn’t be designers anymore because we’re not artsy enough

4. Sent the sisters pictures of our art and were like “how bout now!?”

5. Sisters officially kicked us out of our designer role

That’s honestly sort of it for this week. As far as teaching goes, we’re doing really well actually. The people here are just super chill or just super not interested in talking to us. We were at one of the stores here and I asked the cashier “hey wanna hear about Jesus Christ?” and she looked up and said “NO”. I was like “ahahahaaaa okayyyy” so that was awkward. If I was in the DR I think that the people would be more open. The ward members are seriously so awesome though! It’s weird how every person I see I’m just like “yup you live in Paris” haha. It’s a cool town though honestly. I’m starting to love it. Everybody has that accent and it’s starting to rub off on me too. No, not a french accent.

Idk if you guys remember the part in Monsters Inc at the end when the bad guy Randell goes through a door and into some trailer out in the boonies somewhere, and then the kid is like:

“Ma! Another gator got in the house!” and then the mom is like “Gimme that shovel!” and starts smacking Randell with the shovel. You probably don’t know what I’m talking about so go look it up. But that scene from Monsters Inc is what I think of with everybody we talk to here. 

But yea we have one of our friends Debra on date for baptism December 5! We’re so excited for her! And we’re already getting lots of momentum for finding other people. I miss Frontenac, but I’m super excited to be here. 

And I’m still teaching Shelina (with the help of Elders Pugsley, Kimball, Cordero, and Pantoja)! And she is making GREAT progress! She was gonna get baptized last week but I talked to her about it and we want to push it back a little bit so she can understand the doctrine a bit better and get to know the ward members more. But I love Shelina and her family so much. They are amazing people. 

Honestly fellas, that’s it! Thanks for your prayers in behalf of all the missionaries, especially your boys Elder Wride and Elder Pugsley! It’s been funny being comps with Elder Pugsley’s dad because of all the Pugsley stories I’m hearing...don’t worry Elder I won’t expose you. Okay but one that I thought was really funny is that Elder Powell said that Elder Pugsley falls asleep in literally 10 seconds, and then starts snoring super loudly. So Elder Pugsley, in case you didn’t know, you snore, and it drove Elder Powell crazy. 

Spiritual thought for the week: Spiritually, I’ve been a little distraught lately and feeling kind of empty. I am striving my best to be a good missionary, but feel like a failure a lot of the time. I also get stressed about whether or not God will fulfill the promises he has given me. Then, during personal study, I came across these verses-

Doctrine & Covenants 98:1-3

“1  Verily I say unto you my friends, fear not, let your hearts be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks;

2  Waiting patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament - the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted.

3  Therefore, he giveth this promise unto you, with an immutable covenant that they shall be fulfilled; and all things wherewith you have been afflicted shall work together for your good, and to my name’s glory, saith the Lord.”

Love this so much! It’s a blessing to know my prayers are being heard. And with the new #givethanks thing going around, I have felt so much more peace. So I invite you all to continue to give thanks in all things, and wait patiently on the Lord. As we keep going forward, things will work out. Sometimes all we can do is press on, and show the Lord that even if we don’t really understand what the future will look like, we will trust that his plan is greater than ours. 

Alright see you guys aterlerb! Love you all!