Daniel vs 20 Months

Date: Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:59:10 -0700
From: eric.feller@myldsmail.net

Did you guys realize I've been out 20 months now? Woah.

Crazy week this week. We spent most of the first couple days with Elder Howard saying goodbye to people. Monday night we taught a guy named Jeff. He had been taught by Elder Howard for the last 4 months and actually wasn't in our wards, but in one of the ones that split off, and he got caught in the split. We still taught him because he hates getting completely new missionaries and he and Elder Howard got along really well. The lesson that night we tried teaching about the plan of Salvation, and it wasn't going all that great. He knows it all, just has trouble with faith, then his wife, who is a member, came home from her first day at work and just started crying when she saw their daughter. Then Elder Howard bore testimony on everything for Jeff, and everything he wants in life, eternal families and happiness and everything. He cried. It was really powerful. Then he told them when they got sealed he wanted to hear about it. They laughed, and she asked Jeff it that sounded weird, and he said a few months it would have, but not now. So were making good progress there. I'm going over tonight with one of the Elders who is actually in their ward.

Wednesday I got my new companion. Elder Jackson from West Jordan Utah.

Thursday we were supposed to go on splits with the singles ward. They wanted us to take them to places, and I was kinda frustrated because we don't have enough to do, and them just coming out with us to go do stupid stuff isn't really going to do anything... I think the assistant ward mission leader could tell I wasn't happy with the whole thing. The singles ward is awesome at missionary work... but they just don't get how it works here. But, it turns out that when we talked to the guy before and asked if he knew anyone, he did, and everything worked out and we taught his friend, Alex. Alex is a quadriplegic, and this guy works for him, helping him out. He met with us and just asked us questions about plan of salvation stuff. It went good and we set up another time.

Friday we parked our car and biked all day... and nothing happened. It was a long day...

Saturday we taught Danielle again. We were going to do her reading assignment with her, because she hadn't done it last time, but she did it and so we were going to read a chapter, but I was talking with her about a part in the Introduction to the Book of Mormon and I really felt we needed to talk about the Plan of Salvation. I still don't know why, we taught it and it went well, but not amazing. But I really felt we needed to do that, so it was a cool experience for me.

She and Alex were both at church on sunday and so we had a good day. Our Sacrament meetings were pretty funny. We go to all four, so we have lots of opportunites for crazy things. And we serve in two stakes so in one stake it was fast sunday, and in one of the ward in the other stake, A guy, for part of his talk on fasting, compared the starvation of the American Bison in the winter of Yellow Stone National Park to fasting. In great detail... Comparing the months of -66 degree weather to the 24 hours of the fast. It was hard not to laugh really hard... Then in the fast and testimony meeting in the other stake, the Stake President and his family brought a friend to church, and so they warned the ward council not to let testimony meeting get out of hand. President Riggs was pretty nervous, it was funny. It went really well though, the testimonys were all very nice, with the exception of a young married guy who got up and quoted a notoriously inappropriate comedian...

It was a good week.

Love,
Daniel