Hey guys!
It was a jam-packed week of zone conferences--we had four of them, with a fifth coming up this next week in Peoria. Elder Cluff and I are responsible for training on how to work effectively with members, and helping members build their confidence and excitement to participate in missionary work. It's gone really well so far, especially our meeting on Friday.
Mom would be shocked to know that on Friday, a member took us out to a sushi restaurant where you pick the rolls your table wants, and they keep making them and bringing them out until you aren't hungry anymore. Now for those of you who don't know, I am not a seafood fan in the slightest. So we go to this restaurant, and they don't have a single item on the menu that doesn't involve fish, eel, octopus, whatever. None. So I just have to power through eating crab, tuna, shrimp, eel, and a couple of other kinds of fish. Luckily, there was lots of soy sauce and wasabi to overpower the flavor, and I made it through without getting sick. Elder Cluff isn't a big seafood fan either, but sometimes you just have to take one for the team.
Sad story of the week: Hope was all ready and set up for her baptism on Saturday. The font was filled, and the ward was there and supportive, and not even joking, ten minutes before the baptism, Hope's mom walked in and anti-ed her, and she decided not to get baptized... I hope that she still continues to meet with the missionaries. Satan is really trying her hard, because that's one of the craziest stories I've ever heard when it comes to a baptism.
Other (somewhat) sad story of the week: Elder Cluff and I both started feeling like we have a cold this morning, neither of us are feeling to great. I attribute it to all of the sushi we ate on Friday, LOL. It makes sense logically that it was the sushi, because this is the first time that I've been sick on my mission, and that was the first time that I had sushi on my mission, so there's definitely a direct correlation there.
Now, on the upside, Toby and Z now have a baptismal date for June 4th! We met with them three different times during the week, and they are continuing to impress us! In one of our latest lessons, Z taught us all about the Tree of Life in Lehi's Dream, with all of the surrounding details (mists of darkness, iron rod, Lehi's desire to share the fruit with his family, etc.), he's amazing. And Toby came into our lesson yesterday with a really good understanding of the word of wisdom and law of chastity, and he's already talking about being sealed in the temple a year after his baptism, so we're pretty much all the way there with them!
Other (somewhat) sad story of the week: Elder Cluff and I both started feeling like we have a cold this morning, neither of us are feeling to great. I attribute it to all of the sushi we ate on Friday, LOL. It makes sense logically that it was the sushi, because this is the first time that I've been sick on my mission, and that was the first time that I had sushi on my mission, so there's definitely a direct correlation there.
Now, on the upside, Toby and Z now have a baptismal date for June 4th! We met with them three different times during the week, and they are continuing to impress us! In one of our latest lessons, Z taught us all about the Tree of Life in Lehi's Dream, with all of the surrounding details (mists of darkness, iron rod, Lehi's desire to share the fruit with his family, etc.), he's amazing. And Toby came into our lesson yesterday with a really good understanding of the word of wisdom and law of chastity, and he's already talking about being sealed in the temple a year after his baptism, so we're pretty much all the way there with them!
I had the opportunity to go on exchanges with Elder Morales in the Aurora (Spanish) Ward this week. #ComoSeDiceWorthless Their ward was having a baptism for a child-of-record, and the member asked if we could fill the font. Now I've never filled a font before, but this took for-freakin'-ever...It was like 3 HOURS to fill the thing. We didn't think it was going to be done in time, so we got like 8 pitchers out of the kitchen and were filling them up with water, only to realize that the water that comes out of one of the kitchen sinks and the bathroom sinks are a light brown color...nasty. Fortunately, the other kitchen sink came out clean, but it poured at approximately 0.003718374 ounces per hour, so we had to find another water source in the church, which turned out to the spout where they prepare the sacrament.
The only problem with that was that the water came out cold, and we didn't want the water in the font to be cold. So we decide, "Let's throw these pitchers of water in the microwave!" (It takes about 2:30 to heat up a pitcher of water in the microwave if you've ever been curious.) After heating the water, we poured it into the font, and kept refilling, heating, and dumping the water for about an hour or so, the font was sufficiently high enough for the baptism. Now, after all of that work, the member of the Aurora Ward who promised to bring their friend to the baptism showed up without the friend, so we weren't able to stay to watch the baptism. Instead, we went finding, and Elder Morales contacted this lady on the street in Spanish. Now because my Spanish skills are #ComoSeDiceWorthless, I am completely out of the conversation, so I turn my attention to her 5-year-old son who's playing futbol in the front yard. We start passing the ball back and forth and talking for about 20 minutes (all while Elder Morales is talking to this kid's mom). Long story short, the kid was left speechless when I dazzled him with a series of rainbows, step-overs, Waka-Wakas, and roulettes. They pretty much call me "The Mormon Messi," you know what I'm sayin'? #AlsoHumble
Haha, besides that, I copped a sweet pair of pants at Goodwill today, and we hope to get out to the mall this afternoon.
I hope that all of you are having an awesome week! Remember, don't eat the sushi, because it will make you get a cold. Haha, I love you guys, take it easy! Let me know if there is anything that I can do for you!
Love,
Elder Dallas Anderson
#TheMormonMessi
