March 11, 2013

Missionary Slim is running a Bed and Breakfast? " Do you want ketchup with your hashbrowns? " (Week 57 in Pennsylvania, Week 21 in Washington, PA)

I got a call a few weeks ago from the assistants to the President. "Elder Anderson, what are you up to today?"
"Well, it's P-Day so I'm doing.... P-Day things."
"That's great. Could you drive up here to the mission home and pick up a missionary who needs a home for the next day?"
Due to our closeness to the mission home and the fact that we have three beds in our apartment, we were selected to take care of this missionary who's companion had to go home. So we went up, he hung around us for the whole day as we went from appointment to appointment. The next morning, President Topham came, picked up the missionary, and that was that.
Or was it?
This being the second time President has pulled a trick like this, and being a little bit tired of playing host to missionaries all the time, I decided to see if I could fix the situation. I called the Secretary in charge of missionary apartments. Being brand new in the mission, she did not realize that we had three beds in our apartment. Yet, needless to say, when she found out that President was using our  apartment as a bed-and-breakfast for displaced missionaries, she said "Oh. Well, I guess that means that the bed needs to stay right where it is!"
Foiled again!
With my fingers crossed that the bed would remain unused, we continued about our business. However, the phone rang again - It was the President. My companion answered - Good thing too, because I've come to find when the Mission President calls, it's usually not a good thing. The conversation went like this:
"Hello, President. I love you so much!" (Elder Swanson is awesome - he's such an example to me of pure charity.)
"Hello, Elder Swanson. We have another resident coming into the Washington Walk Hotel." (I kid you not, those were his exact words. Maybe I should get into the hotel business...)
And so with that, we got ANOTHER COMPANION!!!! YAY! His name is Elder Wright, and he will be with us till the transfer (which happens to be in two weeks, BTW). He was formerly serving in Uniontown Pennsylvania, but due to some unfortunate circumstances, needed a change of scenery. He's from Bluffdale, Utah, and has very recently come on the mission. In fact, we'll be finishing up his training for the rest of this transfer. Oh, and he's very tall... Like crazy tall... Like 6'8". Yeah. Tall. (He tells us that the three things he ALWAYS hears is "How tall are you?" "Do you play basketball?" and "I bet you get this a lot...")
So, yeah! That's the biggest change that I've had this week in my life. And trust me, it is a very big change to start living with a guy who is half-a-foot taller than you are.
And I should also mention that most of my poo-pooing and diabolical plans above was for comedic effect, and I actually do love and respect my Mission President - he's amazing. Granted, he's thrown so many curve balls at me that I can't even count it on my hands any more (I'm not even joking). But he really is inspired, and I'm glad to have any missionaries that he sends to stay at the Washington Walk Hotel. Elder Wright is an awesome missionary too.
 
This week, I've been sick. Not really sick, I've just had laryngitis. It's been really fun, actually. I've been doing impressions of smokers and actors and other such things. But it's made it really interesting to teach people. One day, we went tracting. We got to the door, and I got the distinct impression that we needed to sing a song. I'd heard of door approaches like that before, but I'd never done it before myself. Here's how it went.
"Hello?"
"Hi ma'am. We're the missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have laryngitis, but we'd like to sing you a song. Would that be okay."
"Okay!" She was very excited.
Elder Swanson is a definite bass (you should hear him sing opera!) and Elder Wright is tone deaf, so needless to say, it was pretty interesting. We sang "Love at Home" and she almost was brought to tears. She didn't let us in, but she was touched.
We started Laurie on a stop smoking program, and as far as we know, she's doing great on it! She hasn't smoked yet. I've been really impressed with this program and how well it works, but I think a lot of it has to do with the people that we teach. Laurie is awesome. She loves reading her scriptures and saying prayers, and she'll even say them in front of us now. She pays tithing... She just can't come to church. And that part is kinda important.
 
We also had a solid lesson with Dan about church attendance. Guess who showed up to church this week? Yep. Dan. He made it finally, and had a fantastic time. Along with Dan were two other investigators, a husband and wife named Shane and Bobbie. Whereas Dan already has a testimony of this being the true church (he texts us all the time telling us about his spiritual experiences he has as he reads the Book of Mormon), Shane and Bobbie have never even heard about the church before. Shane was disillusioned by his own church and wants to see if there is more out there. Well, he got it. The talks in sacrament meeting were specifically focused on the Atonement, but one of them did mention a Mother in Heaven. I got a little nervous then, but no questions were asked. Then in the 3rd hour, the lesson was specifically on our eternal destiny, with one of the main points being "As Man is, God once was. As God is, man may become." Again, no questions. In fact, Elder Wright told me he noticed Shane crying towards the end of the lesson. I was relieved! 

So, yeah. That's that. The Church is true.
 
Remember, also, that "It isn't the load that we carry that breaks us; it is how we carry it." Ponder on that.
 
Love,
Elder Alex Anderson, AKA Missionary Slim

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