Howdy!
So starting off, we had an absolutely awesome P-day. It was the last p-day of one of our zone leaders, he’s headed back home to Japan. We all had a zone p-day, and it was awesome. We all met at a place near the zone leader’s flat, and they gave all the missionaries directions (kind of, basically it was a wild goose chase through the streets… go forward, turn left, turn right, etc etc.) to get to where we would have the p-day. When we got there, we had an awesome scavenger hunt. It was a blast. To finish it all off, we went to a place called Flip Out, one of those places where you have all those trampolines connected to each other and it was awesome. That was pretty much the highlight of the week.
The rest of the week was basically walking. Walking in pouring rain (it was pouring so hard, the inside of my coat got completely drenched just from the water that made it through the head and arm holes), walking in the pounding heat (I’d honestly prefer it was raining), and averaging about 10 miles or so a day based of my best estimate. It also seems like this was the week that people decided to not be home either. The only people who we were able to catch at home were people who had moved into the place and not the people we were trying to reach (although in one case, we found they were less active and are headed back this week), or can’t meet with us for one reason or another.
We also had an experience running into a group of Muslims on the street. We shared our beliefs with them and they agreed to have us meet again. I would have given them all a copy of the Book of Mormon, but I didn’t have enough on me, there were like eight of them talking to us at the same time. It was really hard trying to listen to three or four conversations at once and try to answer some one else’s question and all at the same time make sure my companion is not overwhelmed doing the same thing. It’s also really sad to have Elder Skinner (the zone leader from Japan) be going home this week. We got along really well, and he was a really great example to me. I’ve told him I’ll have to come and visit him in Japan sometime…..
So that’s basically my week. Not exactly the same as last week, but it is what it is. Time to answer some questions……
So what was it that you did for service with the Spanish elders last week?
Pulling weeds
How do you get to where you are supposed to be when you go on exchanges with the elders in your district? Do you just walk, or are you riding the bus a lot?
We stay with the zone leaders. Two of the companionships I go on exchanges with live in that building, and the other companionship live within biking distance, so they bike down and one of them gives the bike to me and stays with my companion to get a ride back to our area.
Is it starting to cool off there yet?
On the rainy days, yes. On the not rainy days, it’s been getting even hotter.
Well, I hope you’re having a great week, and that you’ll all enjoy yourselves. I miss you all a lot, but I know what I’m doing is exactly what I need to be doing.
Love you lots!
Elder Shelton
I almost forgot to tell you we had a mission conference where Elder Nelson spoke to us! We all got to shake his hand. He’s absolutely hilarious as well. He gave a really good talk about the importance of our work. He also made a point in saying that even at 85000 missionaries we all have so much work to do. He let one of the people who help plan his trips speak, who served in Korea. There is a particular train station that at lunch time over 1 million people go through. He said that if we took all 85000 missionaries to that station, we would have to place 25 book of mormon’s an hour to be able to share our message with everyone, so technically speaking we don’t have enough missionaries to effectively man a train station, so we have a lot of work ahead. Elder Nelson followed by saying that our work is God’s work, and that we need not fear. He brought up the example of the Israelite army in the old testament. That initally, there were many, but God wanted them all to know that it was his work, so he reduced it, and reduced it again. It became an army of 300. We are later told the opposing army was 150,000. He made the point of saying, that that ratio is about the same ratio of church members to non members, and that that example in the scriptures was meant to foreshadow us in the final days.