What are the Symptoms of Scurvy?

So much has happened in the last week, Monday was a much needed opportunity to take care of some temporal matters. Cleaning, and washing laundry, were perhaps the most needed, although the other activities were helpful as well. We had a lesson in the evening with R and C (a not-so-recent-anymore convert) and talking to them about starting up Family Home Evenings on Monday nights. They both seemed to think it sounded like a good idea, and were excited for the new format. We challenged R to teach next week (tonight), and C to teach the following Monday, and assured them that we could be there for the first few lessons to help them get the hang of things. Unfortunately they are feeling ill tonight, so we'll have to move that teaching scheduled back a week.

Tuesday we had the wonderful opportunity of providing service for the Special Events Society by helping them build their Santa Clause float for the parade. We met a super nice man named G, who works as a volunteer for the Special Events Society, and he invited us out to his home, which (after consulting with our Zone Leaders) turns out is within the boundaries of our area. So we have made plans to take a trip over there next Saturday and meet with G and his wife, and tract out the whole area (apparently there're only about 25 homes). After Helping G we were able to do some personal finding (a fancy way of saying tracting :P ) and, in the evening, we dropped off some invitations to the Branch Christmas party to all different kinds of investigators (Potential Investigators, Progressing Investigators, Former Investigators, etc.).

Wednesday was our exchange with Elder N and Elder O (Elder N's Greenie. That's Right, I'm not the greenest of the green anymore!), I was with Elder O this time, he is a fantastic missionary. Elder N is also a wonderful missionary, and an excellent example (As are all of my leaders up here). They're all awesome. :D While I was with Elder O we had our district meeting (which happens every Wednesday) and did and awful lot of tracting. We were able to have a good 40 minute conversation with one woman about the gospel and we answered a lot of her questions. Elder O is a BOSS at knowing the scriptures and he pretty much talked to her the whole time all I had to do was nod and be like "What he said!"  

That evening we had a lesson with J, which was pretty cool. J is a man who works as a construction worker, and lives by himself in a little wood stove heated house. He knows the church is true. He’s read from 3 Nephi 11 through the end of the Book of Mormon, and started in from the beginning again (I think he's in 1 Nephi 20 now?) he says that he wants to finish the Book of Mormon before he prays about it, and we keep telling him that he doesn't need to finish it to get an answer that its true, but it’s hard because he is making such great progress at reading the book, even though he is having a hard time grasping some of the trickier concepts, such as several different groups of people crossing the ocean to the Americas. But he understands more and more each time we talk, so we are just going to keep being patent with him and trust that the Lord will help him to see how important this is to him.

Thursday was our weekly planning, I must admit when I first arrived in the field I didn't appreciate weekly planning very much, it felt to me like a lot of sitting, and like we didn't accomplish very much for the amount of time it took. (Granted a lot of the time was taken up with Elder A having to explain everything to me because I had no idea who or what he was talking about.) But in more recent weeks I have come to enjoy it more, I think in part because I feel like it has become more effective (much less time is spent explaining now), and also I understand it and its purpose more (it helps us prepare for the coming week by making specific plans and goals for our investigators, lessons that we will teach them, and things we can do to help their testimony grow to where it needs to be).

Thursday evening we were able to have a lesson with A and S, who are both incredibly solid investigators, we watched the Restoration movie and taught them both the Word of Wisdom and committed them to live it. They both agreed without hesitation! They are both were excited and willing to obey the commandment of the Lord. They're both incredible! They are doing awesome and will probably end up getting baptized sometime in December. :D

Friday we helped out with Special Events again, setting up for the lighting of the Christmas decorations around the Court House, there were some huge tents and some complicated wiring for speakers and lights, but the coolest part is that G was there again, and he was in charge of the technical side of things, and since we had helped him put the float together all by ourselves (and are essentially his favorite people in the whole wide world) we got to turn on the lights! There was a big crowd and a countdown and everything! I felt awesome. G told us later that we were actually the fall guys in case everything went wrong he could just blame it on us. ;) ... I took it as a joke... I hope he was joking. : P

Saturday we did some MORE service, helping the Scouts deliver Phone Books. We went out with our Branch President and delivered over 250 phone books ourselves.   Then in the afternoon we helped the Special Events people AGAIN (3rd time this week) this time we were setting up all the tents and speakers and electrical equipment at the waterfront for the bonfire and fireworks show that was going to be held that night. This time G just told us to set up the super expensive sound system and then left to go haul the porta-potties down with another guy. Weird how just because you have Jesus's name on your chest you are instantly trustworthy. After we were finished setting up there we went back to our apartment to get out of our service clothes and get dressed up like Missionaries for our Branch Christmas party. The party was awesome! There was food, and games, and carols, and even a spiritual though by the Branch President. We also had an appearance by some big fat bearded guy all dressed in red who handed out gifts. No idea who that could have been. ;) Oh! It was Brother Clause, from WAY up north. ;)

Sunday we had Church, and in the afternoon we went around and visited some people we had talked to earlier in the week. One young family, M and her Boyfriend J, emphasized, at least in my mind, the importance of referrals. We had talked to M earlier in the week and she had said that we could come back and share a message with her about God and Jesus Christ. But when we went back Sunday her boyfriend J answered the door we introduced ourselves and he said that he wasn't interested and started to close the door, we were like "Wait! Wait! We talked to M, she said we could come back." He stopped closing the door and we asked if we could share a message with them both about the Restoration of the Gospel. He again said that he was not interested, and started to close the door again, and then we asked if M was interested and this time he opened the door all the way and we could see in to the house and M sitting on the couch. He asked her if she was interested and she said yes. We were actually able to go in and have a nice lesson and get to know both of them and their two young children a bit better, we learned that J is actually attending AA and searching for that higher power in his life to help him quit drinking. We told them that we could help them get to know God for themselves, and we taught the message of the Restoration. We left them a copy of the Book of Mormon and committed them to read it as a family, and in the end we asked J if there would be a time that we could come back and answer any questions that they had and share another message with them, and he said that we could come back next Sunday. So in the course of an hour he went from "not interested" to inviting us back again all because someone he knew was interested in what the missionaries had to say so he took the time to listen to it himself. :D

Sunday evening we had a Branch Potluck with all the leftovers from the Branch Christmas Party, and afterward we watched the First Presidency Christmas broadcast. It was soo good, but I kept trying to nod off in the middle because I was so full of good food and I was getting hit with a nap attack pretty hard. After the broadcast we had another lesson with J, which was good, and that brings us up to today. :D

A ton of really cool stuff happened today, and that's the reason I'm writing so late, but I'm out of time now, so I'll just have to wait to tell you about it until next week. :D

Love you all so very dearly, and can’t wait to talk to you on Christmas (22 days!),

Elder Thomson

P.S. Well, I'm not starving. On an unrelated note; what are the symptoms of Scurvy? ;)