July 31st, 2012

             How is it already the end of July? One more transfer gone! Wow that is weird! I swear it hasn't been that long at all! Anyway, it was a fun week!! It was Elder Bradley's birthday this week so we did some fun stuff!

We went to 5 guys, and we had a "surprise" party for him. The reason why “surprise” is in quotations is because it was crazy! Basically, the plan was to go to 5 guys on his birthday after district meeting.  Right after district meeting, Elder Scorrato (one of the zone leaders) pulled me aside and told me that the Agardy's had a surprise lunch planned for him. So I was like great! When are they expecting us? And he said "now”!  “So you need to find a way to get Elder Bradley to Danielle's (one of our recent converts) house."

Oh dang...... How am I going to sidetrack Elder Bradley from 5 guys? So I lied... Yes missionaries do lie sometimes too.... ha-ha.  I pretended to get on the phone and then I walked away! After awhile I came back and told Elder Bradley we had to go to Danielle's to help her with something, of course the answer was yes. But as we were driving he was going to turn (to go to 5 guys) instead of going straight to get to Danielles.  I told him not to turn; we had to go to Danielle's! He was like, "Wait, now?! We are going to 5 guys can't it wait?" Oh he was angry! Ha-ha.  This would not be the first time that I told people we could do something that we really had no time for!  And, to make it even better, when we got to Danielle's........No one was there! Ha-ha.  Only Danielle! So the two of us and the other missionaries went into the other room to play pool. Of course we had to tell him what was going on and that everyone was coming.  

Everyone did show up soon after! The Agardy's, the Belnaps, the Flores' and most of the zone! It was super fun! We had an amazing lunch and everything was awesome! We also had institute that night and Danielle came with us for her first time! It was a great lesson and it was funny that it seemed to go with exactly what we had been learning about lately! It's cool how that happens!

            Last night we had Family Home Evening with the YSA and we had Christmas in July.....meaning we make cookies, decorated them and then went caroling to people in the ward! Yes, that was interesting! People were pretty shocked when they opened the door! Ha-ha.  It was really fun though! We had some good time to chat with some of the members and they are beginning to really like the two of us.....but really....who wouldn't?!! Ha-ha.  It is good! We got to know a non-member that was there last night pretty well! Hopefully we can see him again sometime! Last week we actually had FHE with Danielle and her brother and mom, both non-members! It was fantastic! We had a great dinner then gave a short lesson in which they were really involved! I really like that family!

Well that will be it for now!

Take Luck!

Elder Banner

July 23rd, 2012

July 23^rd, 2012

"Rambling"

This week has been slow once again! The heat down here really isn't that bad but the summer has been hard just because there is not much that we can do! We did go through our part of the YSA ward and clean out the ward list, we found out the like twenty people we have on our list no longer live there! So that is what we did with that! Also, we did have a huge activity with them on Saturday! The YSA ward rented out an indoor rock climbing place called the bloc! It was so cool! And we even got permission to join them! It was so funny to do the rock climbing in full Pros (Shirt, tie, pants, everything)! They did give us shoes which was good and helped… a lot! Ha-ha

The walls there are the highest bouldering walls you can have. Bouldering involves no ropes at all; they have giant mats at the bottom! It was so much fun and super intense! They had some places where you were climbing upside down and some where you had to jump to the next hold (especially if you are short like me)! It was such a fun experience! Sadly, I didn't get pictures of me and Elder Bradley on the wall itself, we were too busy climbing it! But I do have a few of the place itself that I can send!

After rock climbing for a few hours we all went to Bishop Bell's house and had a BBQ there! It was great and we had some awesome hot dogs and food there! After that was a giant pool party at his house as well! This we couldn't do.....dang it! ha-ha.  So us, and a few of the members that didn't really want to swim, went to the other side of the lawn and played volleyball....for like 4 hours.....wearing full pros.........in the thick humidity (it rained hard that morning).......and by the end all of us were dying! Ha-ha.  We lost the will to do anything and for the last half hour we basically just kind of stood there and threw the ball back and forth! Ha-ha

It was so much fun! It was an awesome day!

Other then that I do not have lots of things to tell or a lot of stories to share. But there are some things that I can talk about real fast before my time is up! One thing that is really interesting, as far as my experience goes; concerning a mission, is the opposites involved. Out here on the mission you have some of the greatest and most amazing experiences that you will ever have; which will most often than not be followed soon after by some of the hardest things you have gone through! You will also meet some of the most amazing and exceptional people; and some of the best friends you will have while you are on the mission, and you will also meet some terrible people out here! And I'm not talking non members or anything like that; I mean members and other missionaries especially! I always thought I would get along with everyone and all that good stuff but I have met other missionaries in the MTC and also missionaries out here that I just can't stand to even really talk to them! And I'm not the only one; everyone knows who those missionaries are! We have had to be doing a lot with one of them recently which is probably why I am spending so much time talking about this! Really missions are full of these opposites! Everyone says that the mission is the best two years! Which is true, but also, depending on your mission, it can be the hardest two years you will ever have! But we cannot taste the sweet without the bitter!

I do love being out here and these have been some of the best months ever but it is not all yippy skippy like a lot of people say! But this mission is perfect for me and I am learning a lot! I don't have lots of crazy experiences that I share or anything like that because a lot of what happens really wouldn't mean that much to anyone but me. One thing a mission does is give you the opportunity to learn about yourself and to grow! My strengths as well as all my weaknesses have been shown to me and I now can do work on those things that I am lacking! Sorry I am just rambling! Sometimes I just have to ramble! ha-ha

Well I hope things are going well for all of you!

Till next time!

Elder Banner