July 30, 2008

T-bone you're my hero, take it easy. My companion likes to climb and he's from Tucson, Arizona. He's kindof a girl scout though because he doesn't like to get sweaty!! Hey what classes are you taking?
Anyway give this to Spencer:
Hey what up little Shorty. That's hood talk. So R-10's did you say? I haven't seen those. Summer is almost over for you dude. How has it been? Have you done anything cool? How are your tournaments going. I pray for you guys everynight, morning, always. OH so how's your running going. Try and increase and like once a week or so do like 25 or so minutes, and then the other days that you run try and run for the 20 min, but try to run a little faster. We'll get to speed work later. Just have fun though and keep with your push ups and sit ups, that way throw those girls you play to the ground instead of the other way around. Love ya tons Bro.

Hey mom so we email at this members home in their photography business. I'm going to be on for 10 or 15 min and then we have to go grocery shopping for maybe 30-45 min and then I'll be back to email more. I really want to email back and forth.
917 B Chapin Street
Beloit, WI 53511
That's my new address, we have a weight bench their, It's an old and small apartment with no dishwasher, I miss that , and the bigger place that was newer and nicer in Chicago. I you can't IM with LDS mail you have to do it just back and forth. The two girls wereCharlotte Daily and I don't know the other, but I got all the others you gave me. That was a ton, but really cool. Technological you know from the Anderson girls girl camp talk. We drove to Beloit, from Arlington heights, which is where transfers are held. My old Comp went to Garfield Park, which is in Chicago, it's the ghetto of the mission one of the roughest areas in Chicago, rougher I've heard than some of the south stuff. Stuff you send to the mission home is forwarded to the Zone leaders and then they give it to me a like a District meeting on mondays. That's how I got it, and I did get it. Thank you so much it was awesome, I love it. Saw josh's bike too, it's older, and not what I pictured, but that was cool to see the T-bone. So I'll be on for 10 or 15 more try and get back to me.
K mom I can't use Yahoo messenger. We have to just send emails back and forth. I'm only here for a minute or two and then I have to go grocery shopping. I'll be back to email more in 30-45 min. around 2ish my time so 1ish your time. Love you tons.
So this week was decent. I miss the larger, newer, nicer, dishwasher equipped apartment in Chicago. I miss biking around, but I love the weight bench that we have. When we got to the apartment there was a ton of trash on this balcony. We started to smell a foul smell below in the driveway. It smelt of seawater and dead animal. We didn't think it was the trash though. Eventually the lady below us said she could smell this horrible stench, and that it was coming into her kitchen. She asked us to take out the trash. One night, when we arrived home we went to investigate. I was first on scene and I opened the door off our kitchen that led to the balcony, and was hit with a wave of humid wretch. It was quite possibly the foulest stench ever. We brought the garbage cans upstairs to load the garbage in, as this garbage had also acquired some moisture. My companion put on surgical gloves and I had some tissues. We set up fans in the kitchen to blow the putrid rank out. I was horrible. My comp loaded the trash, as I handed him garbage cans and then hauled them downstairs. The trash was juicy, so it was a good thing we didn't bring it through our apartment. We worked quickly though, coordinating our movements to be most effective. However the smell had penetrated our kitchen. Our only hope was a can of pledge that we had discovered under our sink. I began to saturate the deck and kitchen floor. We proceeded through our living room and down our stairs... following the putrid trail of bile. We then went to the garbage cans and continued to perscribe a heavy dose of pledge. It was a good thing we performed this task without ties, as it was no high school prom. I have to thank the elders before us for this wonderful gift that they left us. This was not all though. The garbage man was not to arrive until Wednesday. The smell remained in the driveway, but the woman from down under was content to perform her daily hippie activities without complaint. When we removed the cans to the street, and after the waste engineer had performed his duty, we noticed in the lid a large population of maggots! Oh joyous day. Today we were in need of provisions, and so made our journey to the nearest Wal-Mart Supercenter. In returning I endeavoured to stow my fruit in the vegetable bin and was once again acquainted with the entrails of the previous elders. In the back of the drawer there layed a large pool of coagulated blood. To the supplies closet I flew, through open the door, and extracted a sufficient bottle of scrubbing bubbles. This I sprayed vigorously on the mess, allowing to soak for a time before scrubbing it off. The high content of bleach struggled to break down the aged cake layer of blood, but eventually victory was had. Thus another day in the war zone, and all is safe and clean at our appartment. More reports to come from the battlefield.

So yeah crazy. Anyway, I uuuuuuuuuuhhhh, basically have a part in my hair now. I know it's intense. I had to pray for it, and it's still not a perfect part, but if God can part the Red Sea he can part my hair. I have had it for almost a week now. My companion isn't exactly as obedient as my last. I was awoken on the way home from transfers to "The summer of '69." I had to change that. He has some other music that I've had to shut off, and we have had some disagreements. He also can be a real downer sometimes. He has no faith in tracting, and doesn't like to do it. I have to work and compromise. Sometimes he consents though. Yesterday we tracted most of the day until we did service just before dinner. It feels good to work hard. I have had little disagreements with him on tracting also. He is getting better though and I continue to strive and push. I want to work hard and make every minute count, but sometimes it feels like that is not happening. I will continue to push him, because I don't want any regrets at the end. He's a pretty boy too I think. He hates to sweat, and brushes off his hands alot. He's not all bad though, we have had a day or two where we have ahd some really good teaching. I am getting used to being in a car, and seeing corn. That however is only outside of Beloit and the other cities. In Beloit, I am basically in a pretty decent "Hood." There are tons of Black people, which is pretty much fantastic, as they are my brotha's. That is pretty much the sole population. The other night there was a large gathering of "The Hood" near a basketball court and the street in front. They took up most of the road and as we drove by we were forced to go very slow. As we passed they stared and looked at us. Pretty intense! I might also mention that it was 5 months ago, on a street nearby that two missionaries were shot at. I'm am preaching the gospel in the hood, to black people. I love black people. IN fact the other day we taught Derryl and I think it was his girlfriend on their porch. He was all decked out like 50 cent. It was awesome. At the end when we asked to leave with a prayer they asked me to say it and held out their hands. We had a holding hand prayer! Awkward? Yes! We have a return appointment with him. The other day on a senior citizen street, a lady invited us in to view her extensive collection of Catholic pictures of Christ. She also had a lot of crosses because, "The devil was not going to get her." She showed us in her bedroom where she prayed, and her dish of holy water on the wall. She dipped her fingers and crossed herself, she then dipped again and dabbed my comp's forehead. She proceed to do the same with me. How weird is that. I've been blessed with holy water!
I miss my bike here though. My comp says he's going to get a bike, but he is so cheep. He won't spend hardly anything on food. He saves his money for little things he wants. He could get a bike from sis. Stoddard for like $50, I don't know. Well I am getting used to this new area. The ward here is very supportive. We usually have a pretty full dinner calendar. It's nice to be able to sit down in a family setting again. On Sunday we went to this one house and had halibut and salmon that he had caught on his trip to alaska, and corn on the cob! The corn was awesome. They said to get used to having corn at this time of year. The scripture for this week is Alma 8:30-32. This is awesome, how the lord truly blesses missionaries. Think of two missionaries when you read this.
Make sure that you save all of my letters that I write home. Print them off and put them in a binder. If you want to you can do that with the letters that you sent me. I printed off the perfect day thing here. I don't know how much I can print off though.You're the best mom ever, Don't you ever forget that!!!