Passport!

Ethan got his passport! Yay! 

Maybe he'll make it to the DR after all! We'll keep praying! Also he updated his facebook profile photo - pretty cool picture!

St. Louis Gateway Arch

Ethan went to the St. Louis Gateway Arch for p-day yesterday

A cute photo below that was shared to the St. Louis Area Facebook page

(P-day was Tuesday instead of Monday because yesterday was transfers)

You can see for 30 miles into the distance from the top of the arch.

Week 12 - "can't think of what to call this email"

Hey everybody

Hope you are all doing well. This week was really an adventure. It's been weird and honestly pretty difficult having another man attached to me 24/7 but things are going better. Lot’s of weird little miracles. I hope I can remember all of it or at least everything that is important. And I’m not gonna talk about all the miracles this week because I’m still processing some of them haha and I’m waiting to see them unfold further. Success is never final, and although I’ve had a good start with a lot of people, I don’t want to get relaxed. Also I’m going to be completely honest with you guys, my mind is totally fried. P-day got moved to tuesday because of transfers, that’s why I didn’t email yesterday. It’s Monday night right now though. I don’t want to waste all of my p-day tomorrow writing my email so I’m trying to get it done tonight. But I am only 23.76% awake as I am writing this so my english/grammar/enthusiasm might not be super great in this email.  Sorry. Deal with it. 

1 - Puppy Plunge

2 - TENT CITY

3 - Sally and Sally

4 - Cool stuff

1. Okay you guys, this week starts off with a flyer I we got on our apartment door that said the following: 

"Join us for a splash with your pup!

The pups will be able to munch on delicious treats from treats unleashed & yummy popsicles and pretzels for the humans from Pete's Pops!

There will also be a drawing to win a paid bark box subscription for three months!" 

Well, I’m a lot like my dad and my grandpa wride in this way. I find weird people and weird activities interesting haha. When I got this flyer, I knew I was going to be in attendance. The only question was - where am I gonna get a dog? Even without the logistics figured out, I told my companion Elder Morgan - “we’re going to the puppy plunge tomorrow and we’re gonna find someone to teach”. 

Still needed a dog to take as an excuse to go, I remembered that president has a dog! So we sent him a text and got the green light to steal his dog and drive him to our puppy party. We picked up President’s dog named Steve/Toby. He is adorable haha. I’m not a huge fan of dogs but Steve/Toby has grown on me. His Dog’s name is Steve and Toby in case you’re confused. If he doesn’t respond to one, he’ll respond to the other...so we use both haha. I’ll refer to him as both during this story so don’t get confused...it’s the same dog. Yea he’s stinky and yea he’s kinda gross, but he is a sweetheart. He’s super tiny and is terrified of everything. Let me tell you, he was NOT excited for the puppy plunge. Took a while to get him out of president's house. Sometimes we take him on walks, and he takes a pee every 2 minutes I swear. He’s a nervous lil pup haha. 

But man, the puppy plunge was truly hilarious. One of the most awkward social events I have ever participated in. When we got there, literally nobody was there except these two teenage boys running a pretzel stand. I think the idea of the puppy plunge was to have all these owners and their dogs playing in the hot sun and in the cool pool, having a silly goose time and enjoying the weather. But, it was freezing, cloudy, and the dogs did NOT want to be there haha. We were one of the first one’s there. This one lady was in the pool trying to drag her dog in the pool and holding her by a leash. That poor dog was sopping wet and just wanted to leave. The dog was doing it’s best to try and stay out of the pool but the owner would pull it closer and be like “no no no, you have to come swimming!” stuff like that. Super funny. And I became super acquainted with many dogs throughout the night. 

Steve was not excited to attend. It took 20 minutes to even get to the pool area because he was peeing so much, and even when we got there he was fighting to leave. Basically we were trying to force him in the pool area and he was fighting to get away but we had him on a leash so he couldn’t. Then some elders were watching us from their balcony (our apt complex has lots of elders) and they were like “did you steal someones dog?” and I was like “yea it’s presidents dog” and they were like “NO WAY” and “THAT IS LEGENDARY”. I agree that it was legendary but it was also pointless because we couldn’t get Toby near the other dogs. The idea was to have Steve talk to other dogs, and while he talked to the dogs I would talk to the humans, get all of their personal information and then quickly baptise them. But, Steve was not cooperating. So I asked the other elders if they had any bacon, which they did. They brought me a bag with bacon and sausage. After a good 10 minutes of reeling Toby in, we were in the area. Other dogs liked my bag of sausage too. I was a hit. Tons of dogs coming for food. This one dog was insane though. I can’t explain it. He was literally jumping everywhere and licking everything and jumping on people. I was trying to talk to his owner and he jumped on me and nearly pushed me into the pool. He also took a poop in the middle of the area where people were talking so that was nice. I do not like that dog. 

But, despite our use of bacon and our sincere prayers, Steve wasn’t cooperating. So Elder Morgan spent most of the time holding Steve’s leash and trying to keep him from totally escaping, while I went around and got numbers for people. I’m dragging this story on way too long, but basically it was great. Got lots of numbers of people in the area who we are going to be in touch with. All around, the Puppy plunge was a super weird but awesome experience. Steve had diarrhea twice though. Poor pup was super nervous. And I had to hold him on the way back so there was still poop on him. I told him not to get it anywhere but he disobeyed me. Come on Steve! Control yourself! Stop listening to the natural man. 

And I’m waiting a couple days to totally spam the people who’s numbers I got just to play it cool but I think it’ll be good. There are a couple of people who I think will have particular interest in the message of the gospel. I’m grateful I was a salesman and learned the lesson of not fearing anyone. I really am not afraid to start off a conversation with anyone. The only thing that prevents me from doing so is how awkward it can be. Like I’m at the store and talking to the cashier about the gospel. I just don’t know how to get it gospel related super fast but I really am not scared to talk to anyone. So while Elder Morgan watched Steve I went and talked to everyone I could. Did I already say that? I don’t remember. Wow I am so tiredd. If you are still readin this I apologize. But anyways, it was really good. 

2. Alright y’all, this week was especially awesome because of TENT CITYYYY. I talked about it last week a bit, but basically it’s this place where a bunch of homeless people live and there are tents everywhere, Not gonna lie, it’s pretty sketch. So yea last week me and Elder Kimball had a good conversation with el presidente of Tent City, and got a lesson with him. Except he is in Elder Truman Pugsley’s area, so they came with me and my comp. As we were going to tent city, we got a call from president asking for more details about it. I love president bell so much. He’s amazing. But anyways he was just checking in making sure we would be safe and that tent city wasn’t too scary/dangerous and we were just like “yea it should be fine” but after the call we started to get a little scared too. But as it says in D&C 66:6 “inasmuch as ye can send, send.”. So we sent it. I was honestly scared until we turned the corner to tent city. All of the fear was gone. I sold people pest control in areas this sketch! Maybe not quite this sketch but close. Anyways, my man Rudy (Tent City Governor) was there so the four of us did a lesson with him. He talks a ton though, so it took literally an hour to get through the whole first lesson. He would just start talking about random stuff and we would have to real it back into the lesson. At one point he was going off about truck driving and I was like “man that ties really well into the apostasy…” and stuff. Honestly, it was mostly just me and Rudy talking. I think the other Elders were a bit sketched out. 

So after we talked with Rudy for a while, a super nice christian couple came to talk with him too! Once a week they come and do a Bible study with Rudy. So, when they saw us there, they started talking to us quite a bit. They’re a super nice couple. At one point the husband asked about us being Gods after we die hahahahaaaaa so that was exciting. Most of the night was basically them throwing out questions and then us doing our best to answer them. I’d say it went pretty well. At the very end, I pulled out a Book of Mormon and bore my testimony to them. I told them I knew it was true and promised if they read it they would get an answer. They both seemed a little bit uncomfortable as I bore my testimony, but I felt good! I know these are righteous people and I know that the gospel could bless their lives SO MUCH. Whether or not they every join the church, they are fantastic people and God loves them very much. Tomorrow me and Elder Pugsley are going to meet up with them again at Forest Park and we’re gonna jam. Play some frisbee, spikeball, and music. Just get to know them better. It’s gonna be awesome.

3. So two of the ladies we’ve been talking to/kind of teaching are both named Sally. We go to one of the ladies house every week to do her bird feeders. We’ve going for a long time, and we’ve been trying to schedule an actual  lesson for a long time, but it hasn’t happened. Then this past week as we were leaving she was like “are you guys gonna get in trouble if you don’t give me a lesson about the Mormons?”. Elder Morgan started to respond with “No” but then I came in and said “YES” haha. So, we got a lesson scheduled. It was great. She said she was really impressed with our lesson and said that we’re “handsome” (;

Funny thing happened during the opening prayer though. She’s old, and doesn’t remember things super well. I was like “can we say an opening prayer?” and she was like “okay” and then asked how we pray. So, since she asked, I began to explain. I said-

“So first, we address our heavenly father”. Then things got confusing. Right as I was saying that, she bowed her head and folded her arms. In my head I thought maybe she was just practicing her posture for the prayer or something so I kept going - “then, we say what we’re thankful for…” she kept her head down. Then in my head I was like “oh shoot, does she think we’re praying right now?”. Then I said, “and lastly we ask for certain blessings and then we close in the name of Jesus Christ.”. Right after I said that, her head popped right up and she said “Amen.”. It was mega awkward. Me and Elder Morgan just sat there awkwardly. She thought we had already prayed! So now how were we supposed to say an opening prayer! Then she was like “are they really that short?” and I didn’t have the heart to tell her what had happened. 

But she is seriously one of the nicest people I have ever met and we love talking with her. Sally #2 is also amazing. It’s hard to coordinate stuff with her though. Every time we schedule something, something else comes up. Betcha satan doesn’t want her baptised. But, I have a feeling that our next lesson is gonna go great. Just a matter of getting it to actually happen haha. 

4. Probably the biggest miracle this week was earlier in the week. We were in a district council and we were talking about our goals for people we wanted to get baptised that month. Our district leader went around to hear everybody’s thoughts about how many people they thought we could baptise this month. All the answers were like “2” or “3”. “4” was the highest. Well when they asked for my opinion, I gave it to them straight. I told them that I thought we could get 10 easy dubs. I told them that I felt like generally speaking as a mission, we are lazy haha. It may have been a bit extreme, but I meant every word. I just feel like as missionaries and as a mission we can do so much better. I just feel like we should be doing so much more! And in my apartment too. I hate watching precious time go away and I feel like some of the veteran elders have almost forgotten part of why they came out in the first place.

So as I was expressing my concern in district council, I kinda just went off. It ended with me going off for like at least 10-15 minutes standing up in front of everyone. I said how I only have two years of my life to only do missionary work, and I want to make the most of it. I talked about my experience selling pest control, and how I KNOW we can all be doing so much better. I learned a lot down there, and I think so much of it applies to us today. I also talked about 3 Nephi, how Nephi was able to accomplish the miracles he did as a result of his unshaken faith in Jesus Christ. I talked about how if we believe in the Book of Mormon and the miracles in that, how can we not believe we can’t get 10 baptisms this month? I also talked about the sons of helaman - how literally NOT ONE SOUL of them doubted what their mothers taught them, and as a result none of them perished. The theme of it I guess was faith combined with obedience. By the end of my rant, everyone kinda changed their opinions haha. The zone leaders were in the meeting too, and Elder McConnol said he totally agreed with me and he felt like we were only giving like 30-40% of everything we could be doing. After my shpeel, as a district we had an idea of doing 12 baptisms this month as a zone haha which was awesome. However, it was gonna take some convincing to get the whole zone on board. 

Last month our goal was to baptise 1, and we baptised 2. I guess maybe my faith was so strong because I haven’t been here long enough to know what’s normal, but I literally did not have a DOUBT in my mind that if we were willing to work for it, we could easily get 12.  

Weeeellll, little did I know that they were having a mission leadership conference the next day. This is basically where all of the ZL’s and STL’s in the whole mission meet with president and all the mission leaders to set our plans and goals for the month. I didn’t really know what it was or what was going on, but Elder Morgan was going to play piano for a musical number at the conference, so we went about halfway through the conference during their lunch break. Elder Bowles came out after the meeting was adjourned and was like “Elder Wride! You’ve inspired the mission!”. Then Elder McConnol too said something like “no like actually. You changed the mission.”. It was insane. So basically after my rant to the district, we were all feeling super hyped. Elder Bowles and McConnol prayed about it too and they said they had a burning in the bosom that we could accomplish whatever goal we were unified in achieving. So, when they went to MLC, they talked about me and my faith. Basically, the zone leaders said what I said and the entire mission got pumped up. They talked about how I have a really good attitude of finding. Then, apparently president pulled up text from me asking him about the puppy plunge and  read them to the mission leaders about my faith. It was insane. When I heard all of this I was kinda shaking a lot. The text president read that I had sent him was - 

“Hey president-Got a flyer on our door with the following- ‘Join us for a splash with your pup! The pups will be able to munch on delicious treats from treats unleashed & yummy popsicles and pretzels for the humans from Pete's Pops! There will also be a drawing to win a paid bark box subscription for three months’. Basically it's like a puppy get together in our Apt complex. Do you think Steve/Toby would be interested in attending with us? We think it might be a good chance to connect with some neighbors and find someone new to teach! It's from 5 to 7 tonight.”

So that was crazy! President read my puppy text to the mission! And it hyped people up!

But anyways, as far as I know, after the zone leaders shared their thoughts and president shared his thoughts, the whole mission mindset had changed. Everyone re-wrote their goals. Crazy to think that one thought that we could baptize more people lead to the entire mission setting higher goals. What was going to be a goal of probably 19 or so people to get baptised this month as a mission is now at 39. As a mission, we are now committed to bring 39 people into baptism this month. That is so amazing!!! I’m so glad I ranted in district council. 

There is a lot more that happened this week - exchanges, frisbee, zone council, transfers, conference, fruity dino bite pancakes, im gaining more weight, I reorganized my desk, etc - but I’m mentally drained and think I’m gonna call it for this email. Honestly, if you’re still reading these emails let me know haha because it’s mentally draining to write these. I love it and it’s great, but it takes a big chunck out of my P day. Would love to hear from you guys. Sorry that I suck at responding. I’m a busy bee. 

Want to end with my testimony that the Book of Mormon is true. It really is the keystone to everything we know. If you have a testimony of the Book of Mormon, you are able to answer every question you have in the church. Really. It’s bulletproof! So, I would invite you guys to not just read the Book of Mormon, but STUDY it. It’s true and will bless your lives. Like my man Russell said in conf “The Book of Mormon is our Latter-Day survival guide.”. It’s facts though. I don’t know if you guys got the same vibes, but this last conference talked a lot about being prepared. I got a feeling some crazy stuff is gonna keep going down and if we’re not all in with the church, it’s going to be really hard. The days have passed where you can have one foot in the church and one foot out. You got to be all in you guys! That’s how we’re gonna get through these crazy times.

One of the questions I had going into conference was “Is Jesus Christ coming back soon?”. I had multiple impressions throughout the whole thing- “Yes. He is coming soon.”. You guys, Christ is coming, and those who aren’t ready to receive him are not going to be happy to see him. Be prepared. Don’t forget what matters most! Don’t be the person who decides to accept that everything is true the moment Christ comes. Be the person who believed from the beginning. It’s all true you guys!!! Otherwise I would NOT be here! I would be chilling at the bowling alley with elder pugsley back in utah if this church wasn’t true. Actually, speaking of bowling, me and Elder pugsleys gang are going to the arch and then bowling today, so I gotta dip. But thank you guys if you made it to the end of this email and I hope all is well back in Utah! Be prepared for Christs return! Read daily! Pray daily! Re-double your efforts! Remember what matters most! Go read helaman 5:12. 

Also I seriously do not remember what I wrote in this email so hopefully nothing I said is offensive to you guys! Love you all! Email me if you can!

Adios hermanas

1) me and Elder Morgan

2) us stealing presidents dog

3) The puppy plunge

4) fruity dino bite pancake (shoutout to Hermana Kimball)

5) St. Louis vibes

6) the zone boys

7) view from a members apt

Week 11 - 2 months into the mish

Hey guys

So I was almost not gonna write this week but I feel bad so I’m gonna make it happen. First off, I love all the emails I get from you guys. I read them all. I’m sorry if I don’t respond, but I promise I read them. I read them when I get them during the week and then by the end I have a ton of emails and It’s a mess, but just know that I read every one of them and they are the highlights of my week. Really. Okay so this week has been a grind for sure. Still not sure what’s going on and not sure if I’m making a difference, but the changes are happening within so that’s good. Here’s what I’m gonna cover:

1. Homeless perfume

2. A woman?

3. Tent City

4. Dante

5. Spiritual Stuff

1. So, call me weird, but when I was younger I had a great epiphany- if girls like the way guy cologne smells, why don’t they wear it? And vice versa: if guys like the way girls perfume smells, why don’t we wear it instead of cologne? Believe it or not, this idea puzzled me in my youth. I would bring it up with family members and they didn’t understand my logic. So, fast forward to this past week, I was at a homeless shelter handing out food and stuff, and I heard this one guy talking outloud to someone and said “I wear girls perfume.”. I was shocked. Then I listened further: “because guys like the way girls perfume smells”. It was like a flashback of memories came flooding back. I literally remember looking up and I was just speechless. Anyways, that was pretty neat. Hey, by the way, I don’t wear girls perfume. 

2. Another thing- so me and Elder Kimball were in a shoe store and put on some “hand sanitizer” but then when our hands got all sticky we realized it was this weird lotion. Anywho, so then we needed actual hand sanitizer to fix the stickiness so we went into an ice cream shop. We walked in, the little bell rang notifying whoever was working, and we went for the hand sanitizer by the counter. Then, the scariest thing happened. A member of the opposite gender came from behind the counter to assist us. We froze, absolutely petrified, having not seen a being so beautiful since before our setting apart. Let me tell you, she was gorgeous. Probably our age, tan, long brown hair, brown eyes, and a christ-like personality (probably). Still trying to get her out of my head. Anyways, she asked how she could help and we just stood there. Then, Elder Kimball said something weird like “hey” and if I remember right I followed up with a “howdy”. It was horrible. Then instead of letting her assist us, we grabbed the hand sanitizer and dipped. We probably looked pretty stupid, but again she couldn’t see our faces. If she saw my face she’d probably have asked for my number though. Jk haha. Well maybe. Who knows. Then, when we were outside, still comprehending the previous events, Elder Kimball turned to me and said, very seriously, “Did you just see what I saw?”. Then, I replied, “ A woman?”. “Yes.” he said. So that was exciting. Female from the ice cream store next to imos pizza, if you are reading this, I am sorry, but I cannot date you. I am serving the Lord. But HMU after the mish please.

3. So this week me and some of my boys went to the homeless shelter to do service. It was awesome. Lots of mission opportunities. Then after the homeless shelter we went to another place called “tent city”. And you guessed it, it’s just a bunch of tents where some homeless people live. Me and Elder Kimball were talking to some of them and talked to a guy named Rudy. He told us that he is the governor of tent city haha which is cool. We talked about the Bible and I asked if he knew about Christ’s visit to the Americas. He was like “whaaaaaaatt???” So long story short, we ran him a book of mormon and are going to go back to tent city tomorrow. So that’s exciting! I basically got my first non 0-0-0-0 week! Buttttt he’s in Elder Pugsley's area so we're gonna have to hand him over to them.

4. So last week I gave exciting news about that guy we ran into at the park! His name is Dante. He was asking us questions and stuff and we had gotten his number! So flashforward to this week, I gave him a call. Not sure what he was on or if it was a wrong number, but imagine a guy just yelling at you in straight gibberish. I’ll try to type out what it sounded like- “heno haya tinkle umbu futi papata”. That’s pretty close to what it sounded like honestly. I was like. “What?” and then he said it again “heno haya tinkle umbu futi papata”. Sounded like an indian accent. We were both really confused. Then, I, in my infinite wisdom, thought “well if he doesn’t speak english...he probably speaks ferb latin” so I was like “sierb istherb antederb? Tsierb heterb issionariesmerb.”. He hung up. Then the other missionaries started giving me crap and said “dude why did you try ferb latin instead of spanish”. Duh! So I called him back. He said the same thing - “heno haya tinkle umbu futi papata”. Then I responded in spanish. Then in ENGLISH he said “Who is this?” I was like “the missionaries” and he hung up. So, rip Dante. That was a low point of my week. 

5. Okay fellas, spiritual time! Wow okay so this week has been really tough. The mission isn’t hard for why I thought it would be. I imagined myself knocking doors in a foreign land, speaking a weird language, eating weird foods, teaching and baptizing a lot, having cool experiences, etc. But here I am in a reassignment with nothing too strange. Everybody is rich, I’m getting fed a lot, and I’m not really teaching anybody. Kinda hurts. So I was reading in Helaman 7. This is where Nephi, the son of helaman, was really hurting because of all the sin going on. He says. 

“7 Oh, that I could have had my days in the days when my father Nephi first came out of the land of Jerusalem, that I could have ajoyed with him in the promised land; then were his people easy to be entreated, bfirm to keep the commandments of God, and slow to be led to do iniquity; and they were quick to hearken unto the words of the Lord—

8 Yea, if my days could have been in those days, then would my soul have had joy in the righteousness of my brethren.

9 But behold, I am consigned that these are my days, and that my soul shall be filled with asorrow because of this the wickedness of my brethren.”

This hit hard. I totally relate. Man if only I could have had my mission earlier. I wish I had been a missionary when my dad was, or when my grandpa was, or just something else. Right now, I’m struggling with the fact that these are my days. Also I’m super jealous of all the people who live through the millennium. So when I read this, I felt a connection with Nephi. Then, days later in a mission wide devotional I was listening to, the speaker brought up this same scripture and asked about “why did the Lord call you to serve in a pandemic?”. His answer was that “he called you at this time because he knows you.”. Just like he knew Nephi would work his best to preach the gospel despite the wickedness of the people, he KNOWS that I will work my hardest even in this pandemic. Maybe I would have more baptisms as a missionary in the Dominican Republic without coronavirus, but he needs me here right now because he knows I will push through it. He knows I won't give up. This has been my relationship with the Lord in the past as well. I just don’t give up on the gospel or the Lord. It hurts, but I have always had full faith things will work out. And, to this day, they always have. So I’m gonna keep giving this my all even when I feel like nothing is happening. Maybe I’m not changing others lives, but I do feel a change/conversion happening within myself. Reminds me of something my uncle said in an email to me. It really hit me. He was telling me about how there are some future missionaries out there wanting to serve missions but just waiting until they are more favorable. Hopefully he’s okay with me sharing this haha

“At face value, their attitude could make a lot of sense given how unpredictable travel/economy/etc. is right now. But they're forgetting the entire point - willingness to submit to the Lord's will and timing. You are called to serve - doesn't matter where, or how it may appear right now. The Lord needs people to step up and show up, not wait until it's "more favorable". You think the world and societal conditions are going to stop His work? No, nothing will stop his work and blessings D&C 121:33. Seems to me there may be some separation happening between the wheat and the tares. Grateful for your example of responding when the Lord calls, not only when it's "favorable" to respond.”

This gave comfort too, because it reminded me that I am here for the right reasons. If I wasn’t, I would dip soooo fast haha. It really does feel like a separation of the what and the tares. The Lord gives trials of faith to see who’s really on his side. The refiners fire is too hot for people who love the things of the world more than they love God. I want to go to the Dominican so bad, but I’m not serving a mission to go to the dominican republic. I’m serving to show the Lord that I will be where he wants me, when he wants me there. At the end of the day, that’s really why we are given trials: to prove who’s side we’re on. Reading the book saints, I kinda had a revelation that that’s one of the reasons why polygamy happened. The people who plotted to kill Joseph smith left the church over polygamy. The commandment was too hard for them, so they went from following the prophet to killing him. We are given trials to see if we will endure it well and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. I am getting better at knowing how I hear him. When I read from the Book of Mormon now, I have a little book where I write down impressions. It’s been super helpful. I never realized how much he speaks to me. I also hear him through music. My favorite thing is just to sit down at the piano and play. I literally feel his presence when I do so. This week we were listening to “Bring Him Home” from les miserables but performed by MoTab. It was good stuff. But while listening to it, Elder Kimball said that this song is like us and the savior. He is pleading to heavenly father to bring us home. I literally started bawling when he said that and i listened to the lyrics. Luckily I was wearing a mask and sunglasses so nobody saw the tears that were coming or my quivering mouth, but it hit hard. I need to work on my relationship with the savior, and as I do that I know he will help me find people to teach. 

Guys, please do me a favor and study the Book of Mormon! IT CLAPS SO HARD. It will answer the questions you have. It is true! I can’t say it enough! 

I have so many spiritual insights I wish I could just shove into all your brains, but you gotta work for it. The spirit will teach you as you put in the work. I love you all! Don’t forget that THIS IS THE WAY that leads to happiness. I promise that. Nothing else in life will bring the satisfaction, peace, and joy that the gospel does. Also watch conference. I’m so hyped for it. Literally just as hyped for conference as I was for avengers endgame to come out.

I had some other possible miracles I was gonna share this week that I was excited about, but then thought of the phrase “success is never final”. In other words, they are a good start, but it’s not enough. I will share some of those experiences once I know I’ve done everything I can to keep the work moving forward. 

I think that’s it for this week. Hope everyone is chillin and having a gucci time. The church is true, I know that. Wish I could teach and baptize everyone in the world haha. But Jesus will help a lot when he comes so lets pray for that to happen soon. 

Also I have to add how weird it is to have Elder Pugsley here. I’m in this weird new place having weird experiences and then my best man from high school shows up and it’s like my two worlds combine. From girls, to band, to SBO, to bowling, to walking around in unicorn onesies at macy’s, and then to the mission. It’s just wack, but pretty awesome. I bet we’ll be companions eventually. At this point, it wouldn’t even surprise me. 

Adios muchachos

1. Me taking President Bells dog on a walk

2. felt cute. might dele

3. Me, Elder Kimball, and Elder Pugsley

4. After our spanish study I snapped this gem of a picture.

5. sunset

Week 10 - less than 100 weeks left I think

What’s up fellas

The most important part of this email is the invitation I’m going to leave for you guys at the end. It’s very important. So, if you’re not gonna read the email, scroll to the very bottom (step 7) and follow through with my invite. It’s pretty awesome.

Alright hombres, so this week was decent. Every day and every week it feels like things get better, but even then I feel like I’m not really making progress at the rate I would like to. As far as dealing with myself, I’m not a very patient person, and I have a tendency to get discouraged when I don’t see the result of my efforts as soon as I would like. I had an interview with president bell and his invitation to me was to be patient with myself so that’s what I’m trying to do. Anyways, got some funny stuff to share too so here we go.

1. Phantom of Elder McNeil

2. Almost died

3. approved/unapproved music

4. 160?

5. Teaching people

6. Spiritual thought..?

7. INVITATION

1. Aight so like I mentioned last week, Elder McNeil got transferred. It was kinda sad to see him go honestly. Until we found out he was getting “transferred” to our same apt complex and moving into me and my comps ward, but just out of our current apartment. So basically he’s still here. While he was staying in our apartment though, he would hide in the closet by the door in my room and when I’d walk in he would scare me. DROVE ME CRAZY. One time that he scared it me it made me so mad that I full on punched him and he fell to the floor. Anyways so he would scare me all the time and I was never ready for it. But the closet he’s scaring me from has a bunch of white shirts hanging on the coat hangers, so when I walk in now, out of the corner of my eye I see a white shirt and I always think Elder McNeil is there again. Essentially, everytime I walk into my room I jump and yelp. I literally always think he’s there. It’s not a good way to live. 

2. Okay so this was kinda scary. So Elder Morgan was driving, and he was turning left. Our light had turned from green to red, so naturally when that happens on a left turn you just go. So he started making the left turn, but I could see that the oncoming traffic wasn’t slowing down, so I yelled and grabbed the wheel to stop Elder Morgan from turning as the car skirted past. Basically I almost died. He almost just turned me into oncoming traffic and the car would have totally nailed me. Good thing I was paying attention. Thank you safety zone!!!

3. So as a missionary we can’t listen to a whole lot of music. Or good music anyways. Our library has to be either 1) produced by the church or 2) instrumental hymns. So that’s not a whole lot of stuff, especially for a guy who lives off of music. Butttt there are some songs that are “approved” but probably shouldn’t be. For example, some Motab. I think they’re trying to expand their range of people who listen to their music, so they have some songs that are not “missionary appropriate”. Like for example, Duel of the Fates from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. TabCats did an arrangement of it. So it’s approved, but like not really. But, if it’s approved it’s approved, sooooo I’ll jam to it. Anyways me and Elder Morgan were in our room playing some modern motab on my speaker and then the ZL’s came in to chastise us because it sounded unapproved. Then I showed them that it was by motab and they were shocked. Then, Elder Bowles pulled out his phone and whispered to Elder Morgan “will you send those to me?”. It’s just pretty funny. So if any of you guys have approved music you can send me feel free. (Avengers Endgame)

4. I’m eating so much food. Any chance I have for a break I eat. A little over a week ago I hit 150 and this past week I hit 160. That’s nearly 10 pounds in one week, and 25 pounds since MTC. The scary part is that I don’t know where it’s going! Like I don’t look different. Or maybe I am getting fat and I just don’t know (not likely). And this is why, as painful as it was, I didn’t buy another bag of Fruity Dino-Bites with Marshmallows this week. I also joined the “swol missionary support” group on facebook. I was shocked to see how many Elders I know on that page (Elder Pugsley was not one of those btw). To join the page you had to write why you wanted to join the group and I said “I’m gaining weight like crazy and I need to turn it into muscle before it’s too late”. So I’m gonna start doing some P-90X with the other Elders this week. I did some push-up workout with them this past week and it broke me. My body was aching for days. 

5. So teaching people lately has been a grind. I feel like we’re not getting anywhere, so the other day I had me and my comp sit down and I set goals for us as a companionship. One of these includes just getting out of the apartment and talking to people. So we’re gonna try to go on a walk every day and casually talk to people. Yesterday on our walk we had this guy come up and just start asking us questions! We got his number and I feel like we’re gonna make progress with him. I hope so. 

6. Spiritual thought for this week: 

I was reading in Alma 56. I don’t know why, but these versus hit hard. It’s about the army of helaman. Made me cry.

“44 Therefore what say ye, my sons, will ye go against them to battle?

45 And now I say unto you, my beloved brother Moroni, that never had I seen aso great bcourage, nay, not amongst all the Nephites.

46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will anot suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the aliberty of their bfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their cmothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their amothers, saying: We bdo not doubt our mothers knew it.”

Reminded me of my family, especially my mom. “We do not doubt our mothers knew it” really hit me. It continues after the battle and says

“55 And now it came to pass that when they had surrendered themselves up unto us, behold, I numbered those young men who had fought with me, fearing lest there were many of them slain.

56 But behold, to my great joy, there had anot one soul of them fallen to the earth; yea, and they had fought as if with the bstrength of God; yea, never were men known to have fought with such miraculous strength; and with such mighty power did they fall upon the Lamanites, that they did frighten them; and for this cause did the Lamanites deliver themselves up as prisoners of war.”

 

This is probably my favorite story in the whole Book of Mormon. Their faith was so strong. I want more of that. Gotta be honest you guys, I’m kinda depressed about my whole call to the Dominican Republic. I honestly don’t know if I’ll ever go there. I messaged the mission mom in the DR and she basically said everything is still totally closed and that she doesn’t know if we’ll ever get there. It just felt so perfect when I got that call and I felt like that’s where I needed to go, and all the sudden I’m in missouri and don’t know if I’ll ever leave. Why did God call me to the DR if I would never go there? I wish I had just been called to Missouri right off the bat. Then I could just relax about everything. And I have had no spanish opportunities here. Anyways, that’s been on my mind lately and it’s making it harder to focus. I’m trying to lose myself in the work, but it’s brutal. This isn’t what I thought my mission would be like. 

7) Finally, the most important part of your guys’ week. This is extremely important. You must follow the following steps with exactness.

1. In the Doctrine and Covenants, open up to section 138 (the very last section). WITHOUT READING THE VERSUS, go highlight/mark in some way the following: 38-47, 49, 53, 55. 

2. Pull up the audio on THIS LINK and put it at 1:46. Do not play it. Keep it paused, but have the audio ready to go at 1 minute and 46 seconds (don’t worry, the music is by MoTab).

3. Find headphones, or a loud speaker. You need the sound in order to fully enjoy this experience. 

4. This is where we have two options. The more impactful option would be to read all of section 138 and wait to play the music until arriving in verse 38. I only recommend this so that you know exactly what’s going on. Either way, it’s pretty awesome. If you don’t have time to read all of 138, skip to step 5. 

5. If you’re lazy or don’t have a whole lot of time, you can just skip to verse 38. DO NOT PLAY THE MUSIC UNTIL YOU START READING VERSE 38. Then, with the music playing, read the verses you have previously highlighted while the music is playing. 

6. REMINDER: While the music starts playing at 1:46, read 38-47, 49, 53, 55. Or, after verse 55, if you want to keep reading you can. But that’s the minimal requirement.

7. Enjoy! If you don’t enjoy it or are confused, you are uncultured and need to watch more marvel movies. If you have any questions or comments about all this, let me know.

Well that’s basically it for me this week. Just gotta keep going forward and pray that the Lord will show me that this really is where I am supposed to be right now. Keep Elder Wride in your prayers. I really want to make the most of these two years. I don’t want to have any regrets after the mission. 

Love you guys! Email me if you feel like it

adios

1) me and Elder Kimball

2) spanish practice call with elder pugsley and elder brady. Don't worry we were practicing spanish but were also simultaneously using filters.