The LATE E-mail

Yeah, sorry I couldn't email Monday. We had to use a member's computer and it was slow, and I received many emails. It was funny getting a call from Sister Jensen this morning. All is well! I got here emailing late again because Eufaula's big two lane road narrows to a one lane, and they are doing construction on both sides of the road, so there is a huge blockage.

To answer your questions: the western band is a small group of people that play in Georgetown. The people call it the Music. Mainly old people go and listen to it, and we got invited! It wasn't that big, that's why we got front row. All of the people were nice, and most all were Baptist. An older man really wanted to buy something for us, so we had him buy water for us. It was a good 'ol time. The man in the Hawaiian shirt that's playing the mandolin was there to watch, until he saw one of the performers butchering the chords, so he walked up and started playing! It was pretty neat. They had another performance at a Baptist church last Friday that we went to. One of the people there told me if I wanted to sing that he can arrange for me to get in the program. I told him, I'm good! I was not ready for that, haha.

The gun is our recent convert's. We were talking about guns, and Elder Lane is a hunter, he shoots coyotes on his land, and Chris told him about this gun he got at Walmart. He pulled that out and I just thought, I need a picture with that! It had a 500 dollar laser on it, he said when we get off our mission that we could come back and use it!  Elder Lane and I made plans to come back and go hunting with him. Nugget is the dog. She is big, and nudges you when she wants to be pet. If you ignore her, she throws your arm on her back with her nose. I pushed her over and made her stay! :)

The picture, of the picture..... We made a picture frame for the Proclamation to the Family, and cut out the old advertisement picture that used to be in it. Elder Lane has one where I took the lady's teeth and made it look like my own. It was weird, you couldn't even notice the difference. We had a lot of fun with that one, we were going to put it on the picture of Jesus, but we decided not to....

Zone conferences... we had one a little while ago, there were some funny and good performances. Our district stood up and sang a hymn with another elder playing. We didn't plan on doing it, but he couldn't really play it so he wanted us to drown it out! It was pretty funny, the last note was off every time. We also had a missionary show off his lack of flexibility. He told us he used to be able to put his foot behind his head, but because he got fatter, he only got close. He then went on to show us another trick, and he pulled on his legs to form like an egg, and started to roll around and he split a HUGE hole in his pants! We all busted out laughing and he sat there just staring down. Even President and Sister Jensen were laughing. He told us as he was sitting down, "I'm not as embarrassed as you'd think I'd be." He was a goofy kid, and he is very outspoken. He walked out and sewed his pants back up himself. It was a good zone conference.

I am senior companion, I was one when I got here, but it doesn't really mean much. I make final decisions and I am the one who lets the DL's know we are safe. Elder Blain thought he was for a little while, until we looked at an email that Pres sent. Elder Blain just barely got done with training, so he's been out three months in the field. He has the drive, but he is the kind of guy that thinks he is right about everything. He is really loud too. He is quiet when we are at homes or in lessons, but when he gets into a lesson, or gets comfortable at someone's house, he uses his outside voice.... I know that I wouldn't go through my whole mission without getting a couple companions I didn't get along with. I am very thankful for the email Dad sent about getting along with everyone. I have really been changing my mindset recently. He is from West Point, Utah, and what else I've learned from him is he likes football and he went to Syracuse. Also his dad is a air traffic controller, and I learned that it's one of the most stressful jobs in the world! Does Ashton know that?

I'm glad I didn't watch that game, I would've lost all hope in BYU. By the way, who's the quarterback?

Cool story, we met a man with the last name Acosta. He has been all over the world. He isn't a member, but he taught with a missionary and learned all the lessons for our church. Weird right? His daughter is a lawyer that works in SLC and she is making big money! She is pretty big over there, she is in her thirties and already has a partner, or whatever they call it. She is the head honcho for the corporation. He is also a super nice guy and is fun to talk to, has a thick accent, but is understandable.

Anyway, I'm sorry for scaring y'all, I hope I don't do that again, but I can't make any promises. The work is going well! Stressful, but well! I'll be alright though, I know how to deal with stress.

Love you guys and stay good! And make sure Casey keeps playing good! I want an All-American soccer player nephew!