July 16, 2012

This week I don't have very much to report at all!

This was a very, very slow week! We had tons of rain this week which is fantastic and very much needed but the missionary work stops during the big storms. Most missionaries don't want to go out in bikes during times like those and the few that have cars (us) really don't like driving through the rivers and find it really dangerous so this week was a lot of hanging out! There were a few good things that happened this week! We were looking for one of our YSA members and ran into a guy that was very interested in hearing about us and our message. We talked with him for about an hour and then sent the other missionaries by. They called us back the next and told us that this guy read the entire Book of Mormon in one night and he started it again! He is one of those 'golden investigators' that you hear about! So while it does seem that myself and Elder Bradley do much of our work we are at least doing something!

Also we had an interesting experience this week that I hesitate to write about being that I know that some people will worry about us, but before I write it just know that we are safe and this wasn't as big of deal as it sounds! We got a referral from the Spanish sisters about a deaf guy in this certain apartment complex, now we all know that most of the time referrals from the sisters don't really work out. Most of the time the people think that the two girls will come back so they say yes but then when two guys show up all of the sudden they are not interested!  That is what we were thinking as we showed up at this apartment complex. When we got there I was looking around and wondering what was different with this apartment complex, it seemed different. Anyways we finally found the apartment we thought we were supposed to be. But it could have been one of two doors about a foot apart from each other. Just as Elder Bradley rose his hand to knock on the first door, two guys dressed all in black rode up on motorized bikes. These dudes were scary looking, with dark sunglasses, dark (scary) tattoos, and just their overall demeanor. They asked, "You two Mormon missionaries?" to which I replied "yes we are! We...." But then he cut me off by saying loudly, "You two need to leave right now!" At this point I thought he was being nice and just telling us this was a bad place to be so I started explaining that there was a deaf person here that we were trying to find but once again he cut me off. "No! You need to leave now and no one here is interested in your message. And you can get away from my apartment! (the one we were about to knock on)." This sentence contained many more words which are not generally used in polite conversation but that is the gist of what he was saying. It was at this point that I noticed that both of them were packing heat!  Both had large handguns on their waists, one had his mostly hidden but the other one, the one talking to us, had his just on his hip! Right then I realized this was not the best place to be so I said, "alright we'll leave." But Elder Bradley said to me "No. We don't need to leave just because they say." Right then the guy said again, "You need to leave this apartment complex" Once again filled with explicit words. As he said this he half drew his gun! So I was like “Ok, lets go try a different door” and I started walking! The next thing that happened was actually pretty funny looking back on it.  Elder Bradley walked right up to the guy and said right in his face, "I am going to stay here until I find a deaf person and you can't do anything about it. So...do you know any deaf people?" Asking a referral from a man holding a gun! That was a new one for me! haha  It really confused the guy as well! He stammered out that he didn't know any and that we still needed to leave but it seemed as if he was feeling uncomfortable now! Elder Bradley then said that we wouldn't knock on his door again but we weren't leaving and then we walked off! When we got a little bit away I turned to him and asked if he knew they had guns. He looked at me and said, "They had guns?" haha He didn't see that but then he explained that it wasn't a big deal. What were they going to do? Shoot us? In the middle of a apartment complex in broad daylight? This was true. He then explained that with people like that you can't just back down and leave, they have neither right nor reason to make you do anything! So that day I learned to be bold when I'm being threatened! haha  As we were driving away he told me that he thought something like that would happen! That complex has had multiple occasions of people pulling guns on missionaries! haha  I wish I would have known that earlier! haha So yes we are safe, sound, and more wise then before! It was actually and interesting experience now that it is over with! And I don't want any of you (Mom) worrying about us! We are just fine!

Other than that, the week was rather uneventful! I did have a funny realization this week that me and Elder Bradley have been companions for more than six months now! That is pretty weird! haha Not much at all is going on with the deaf branch right now. Summer is terrible for deaf work as most deaf people in Tucson leave for the summer! With the YSA we are starting to see some success though! We have just been getting to know all of the people and having a lot of fun with them! On Monday we played 'Minute to win it' games and Elder Bradley's team came in first (team of all the athletic guys) and my team came in second (a team full of girls with two more nerdy guys)! haha Anyways, we have had a few people come up to us and tell us they want us to start meeting with their less active friends! It's not investigators but that is huge! Hopefully we can start to reactivate some of those people! So that is our week right now!

Till the next time,

Elder Banner

Happy (late) 4th of July! It is officially Monsoon season!! It has been a crazy week with lots of little things going on!

On Wednesday (July 4th) we were trying to contact some of the YSA members and after three hours of going to all of their houses.......we had yet to find anyone who was actually home. Needless to say we were tired and discouraged, and then we noticed that the sky to the south over the bulk of Tucson was really dark and moving our way. All I could say was “wow!”  It was pretty cool; Elder Bradley told me that was a monsoon! So I turned on the van and headed that way....I was curious! It didn't take long for us to run into it, and we went from no rain at all to windshield wipers on full in about 400 yards! It was insane!! And that was only the beginning! We couldn't believe it! Pretty soon the road started to flood and within about fifteen minutes the water had risen above the curbs on about all of the roads! It was nuts!! That is the only time that there aren’t many cars on the road! There were only a few of us brave (stupid and out of our minds) enough to drive through the rivers! I really felt like I was driving through a river in our van! It was amazing! Good thing our van is a beast!! After a short time we did come to our senses and decided to get out of there! So we took the roads with the best drainage systems and went back to our apartment! We are safe and sound, don’t worry!  When we were heading back Elder Bradley said, "Wait till we get a bad one, there will be even more water!" Apparently the biggest rainstorm I've ever seen isn't even "a bad one"! The other crazy things about Monsoons, is that the entire storm was gone and the streets dry in about an hour and a half! And then came the humidity...... Wow it was crazy!

After that adventure, we headed up to the Mission Home for a BBQ!! For some reason still unbeknown to us, President Killpack invited our zone and only our zone over to his house and threw us a big BBQ! To fit in with the spirit of the 4th there was so much food and I felt so fat eating everything! “Now I don't normally eat a hamburger, a steak, and a brat.....but......It is 4th of July!” haha ;) It was really cool, we had our zone meeting after dinner in the front room and then President took us out on the deck and had us look over the whole city while he gave us training!  It was really cool as we were seeing the fireworks all over the city and listening to President!  It was a great experience! Even with all of that it still did not really feel like the 4th of July.  I've noticed holidays really aren't the same out here. It is then that you notice everything that is missing. It is those days where it becomes blatantly obvious that the fun and joy found in the holidays are really only because you have family and friends near. It was hard on me because the 4th is usually one of my favorites. But with the Monsoon and the BBQ/training at Presidents house it turned out to be an alright day. And Elder Bradley, Elder Barrot, Elder Seare, and Elder Field all got 4th of July packages so we had some fun with the stuff in there! I love my zone and I love my district! This is the best district I've had! I hope all of you had a great 4th of July!

President also fed Elder Bradley and me on Friday! We had a meeting for all of the people that do YSA that we went to and after President fed us again! But this time it was at the institute! It was interesting to see that almost all of the missionaries involved in YSA are the Zone leaders! I'm not sure why but that is how it is! It was a great meeting but it was also super long, it went for hours and hours!

So with the YSA, we are actually enjoying it quite a bit! On Sunday morning we decided to go to the YSA ward as well as the branch! So we went to our meetings and then went to Sacrament with the branch, then we did some welfare during the first half of Sunday school and then drove to the other side of Tucson (the institute on the University of Arizona campus) for the Sacrament meeting with the YSA. Then we drove back to the branch to do tithing and finish welfare and then drove back to the institute for Priesthood! It was crazy but we really enjoyed it! It was nice to sit in a meeting and not be responsible for anything going on! It was also nice to not have to be worried about every little thing that happened! We also met a lot of the people there and I really enjoy a lot of them! Some of them had us for dinner last night! There were about 12 people at that dinner and it was crazy! I forgot that dinners could be loud!! haha I didn't realize how much I was used to signing through the whole dinner! It was great to have dinner with all of them! It was great to hear experiences from their lives and realize that growing up down here is a lot different. The church is strong but it is still a lot different than Utah! But the gospel is the same and most of the members are the same no matter where you go! I love this gospel! I love being on this mission and though it is by far the hardest thing I have ever done! It is very rewarding and I love it!

The reason this email is late is because we had our P-day pushed back as we were asked to attend and usher a funeral yesterday. A fireman down here was killed in a hit and run and because he was a member they had the funeral at the stake center! It was huge! There were over 800 people there and about 200 hundred of them were fireman from all over Southern Arizona! It was really sad being that this man was only 25 years old but you could tell the amount of lives that he touched. It was a great mission experience as they spoke of the hope and joy that comes from the gospel and how we know that there is a better place! It was interesting to see the difference that the firemen do for funerals. There were about 25 fire trucks that joined the procession to the grave site and instead of a hearse they draped an American flag over the casket and put it on top of a fire truck! It was pretty impressive!

Well that was my week! Till the next one!

Elder Banner

July 2, 2012

Monday, July 2, 2012   “Somalia Summer”

This morning at 8:24 it was already 96 degrees.....oh my goodness!! So Hot!!!

This week we started activities with the YSA ward!! It was so much fun! On Monday we had Family Home Evening with the YSA, so after 4 hours of basketball with the Missionaries for P-day, we went to FHE and found that we were having a game night! Dodge ball and some more basketball, only this time we were in full “pros” (meaning shirt, tie, slacks, everything).  It was actually really fun, but we were so tired by the end! There are some pretty cool people in the ward and I really look forward to getting to know them!

On Wednesday nights we go to summer institute! This is fantastic! It is so good to go and learn more about the gospel in a class room setting! I actually learned a lot last week! I am so excited to get going with this and hopefully we can keep this going for awhile!

You may be wondering why I have Somalia in my title...well that has to do with one of our experiences recently.  A little while ago Elder Bradley and I received a referral for a small deaf man named Ganash. Of course we were excited and went right to the address but what was waiting for us was one of the scarier areas/apartment complexes in Tucson. He lives right in the middle and one of the places that you don't go to after dark.  This is nothing new for us so we just walked in! The whole time walking through it there were lots of people just staring at us. I learned that this is an area where lots of refugees from Somalia live and most of the people watching us fit that category.  I'm not racist, I swear, but that is how it was.  We were walking through the middle on these dirt roads in the middle of all the buildings and it honestly made me think of the movie “Black Hawk Down.”  I never saw the show but I know about the story and I was expecting people to start shooting! haha  I really did think we were going to be shot the whole time we were there, some of the looks we got were not happy looks.  I think most of the people thought we were cops or federal people.  Anyways, we finally get to the number of the apartment and knock on the door. The door opens and it is a Somali family that says to us, "No English!" English? Are they Spanish? haha We sat there for a second trying to communicate with them but to no avail.  Then another Somali woman walks up, pats us on the shoulders and says something incomprehensible and then walks upstairs to the other apartments. We were a little confused but a few seconds later she returns. When she turns the corner to where we could see her we realize that she is not alone. She has a Somali girl with her that is the "interpreter" meaning she is the only one that can speak English! She is about 18 years old and BEAUTIFUL! She was wearing the full Muslim getup but she was so pretty even with that! Elder Bradley and I were very surprised to find someone like her in this place. We spoke with her for a second and asked if Ganash was there.  She had no idea who we were talking about and it was only then that I looked across the street to the other apartments and realized that every building has the same numbers!!  That girl was one of the nicest and most sincere people I have ever met!  As we explained that we had the wrong apartment she said “Oh that is fine! I'm sorry these apartments are confusing, is there anything else I can do for you?" I've noticed that a lot of the Muslim people and especially the immigrants are so nice! I love talking with them!

We finally did find Ganash, he is a immigrant from Nepal and very short! He goes up to about the bottom of my chest! I felt tall next to him! Being from Nepal, he does not have any ASL so we just played charades with him for about an hour to communicate with him! That in and of itself was an interesting experience! Also while we were there we "met" some other people from Nepal. Basically we shook their hand as they walked by. There was a Nepali man there who was a drunk according to Ganash. He was just standing in his doorway and yelling......at the dirt...and the rocks.....and the sky..... he was pretty crazy! While we were talking to Ganash he started walking around, and as he was walking by us he looked up at me, yelled excitedly, ran over (I was getting very concerned right here), and then bowed to me! On his face!  I didn’t know what to do, so I just kind of bowed back! haha It was weird! Then he saw Elder Bradley and half bowed to him and grabbed his hand! So funny! It was an interesting experience! Then he walked away and started walking into people’s houses and yelling at them. So that is our Somali/Nepali experience! We'll see what comes of Ganash!  He is currently being brain-washed by JW's so we'll see if he wants to learn from us.

One thing I have learned on my mission is about other religions. I have met and grown to appreciate most of the major religions, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, all types of Christians, some Buddhists, Native American, and some people that are into "Asian spiritual things."  I have learned to really respect and even love some of the members of all of these religions.  Now I don't want to offend anyone but I have yet to meet a JW down here that I respect.  I'm sure there are lots of great people in that religion but all of the ones I have met so far are really rude, offensive, and they let us know how much they hate us and want us to all burn in Hell because we are Mormon.  I have had some tell me that they will laugh when they see me burning in Hell. To this we just smile and say “Sorry that you feel that way,” then walk away. These are my feelings at the moment, I don't hate JW or anything....I just do not like all the ones here in Tucson. haha

That is my week! There was more I can say but I was out of time! Hope things are going well for you!

Take luck!   Elder Banner