July 25, 2011

I asked Reid how it is going living with the Theobalds and this is his reply:    

I have come to the determination that there is little to nothing I can do to improve the situation and have asked many different people in authority to get us out of that house. I could go through and clean the place and be OCD, but it would just offend them and since I am not willing to exist in a state of sickness, I am left with little other choice.  It seems to be, find a way out on your own or get thrown out. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what they do for us and I know that it would be hard to put up missionaries like this, but at the same time the best of intentions pale in comparison to the smallest of actions. I won't keep saying, "Oh well, better luck next time." It is a good thing that Debronsky makes me laugh more than any other companion.

Let's see what I have in the bag-o-stories. We went to the temple last Thursday and guess what! I was sick the whole time.  I needed Pepto in a big way all night before the trip. (Dang that dirty house) In the morning we decided to risk the long drive down with faith that the Lord would preserve me until we got there. This he did, thankfully. I enjoyed the wonderful spirit in the temple and was able to leave feeling edified. Add to that the fact that I got to go to Deseret Book and Pick up Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith and Articles of Faith by Talmage and I can say the day was awesome.

We also got the chance to go to  Albin (pop. 120) and basically tracted half the town. We would have tracted the other half but we ran into a minister who was really nice but took a lot of time talking to us. So many Mexicans in that town. It was a good thing that Dobronsky is originally from Ecuador.

Finally, I had a minor emergency yesterday morning. The room I keep all of my stuff in is attached to the swamp cooler and during the night it decided to blow all the moisture from the fog into the room. It wouldn't have been a problem, except all of my paper goods were in there are are very absorbent. Most, if not all of them have the classic wavy old book look going at this point and i was forced to move all my stuff to the basement where I am more in control of the elements. I was furious at first, but quickly realized that it is still just stuff and much like a random hail storm there was nothing I could do about it. I saved the most important things and more importantly, I learned much from the experience.

July 18, 2011

Heat Lightning

Rain has been the predominant feature this week causing all sorts of havoc around here. Apparently, this is the wettest this place has been in ages and it is causing trouble. I about died when I saw the "devastation" brought by a hail storm.  One storm dropped golf ball sized hail and after it knocked a few leaves off the trees and put  some barely noticeable dents in car hoods, it was called a disaster by some. We have been having a good time tracting in the bad weather and at one point we were finally told by someone that there was a severe weather warning  for our area one night. (Maybe a tornado warning, I am not sure) Se we went home and enjoyed the lightning from the porch. It is a very different experience to be able to see so far that you can view an entire weather system and not be part of it. On the really hot days some times a storm will roll in during the evening and then you get a phenomenon called "heat lightning".  Imagine a storm cloud that fill the sky and without raining manages to produce a strobe light effect. That was amazing, but enough about weather. I'm starting to feel old.
We had what I have to admit was the funniest talk in sacrament meeting I have ever heard yesterday. We had our high councilman come to speak and as soon as Dobronsky and I saw Brother Kim we both prayed that he would have a thick Asian accent. Let's just say the Lord came through for us. I can't fully describe how awesome it was to have so many Asian stereo types fulfilled before my eyes, but let's just say we laughed about it all day and talked in accent as much as possible after that! What is better is that despite the madness, he actually gave a talk that was filled with the Spirit. He loves the gospel and it was very plain that he is a great orator in his own language. I'm not sure what the point of this story is but it stood out in the week so I guess it is important enough to tell. All I know is, "there are many good gospel book on A MA ZON .com for 1 cent!!! 1 cent!!!
Speaking of good books, I have recently been eating up Elder Talmage's book "The Great Apostasy" and wouldn't mind getting a copy of his work entitled "The  Articles of Faith." I don't know why his style of writing makes me love to read for the first time in my life but I figure that I should take advantage of the fact. I also wouldn't mind getting a copy of  "Christ and the New Covenant" by Elder Holland.
Looking forward to the temple trip on Thursday.

July 11, 2011

Cowboy Reid

Elder Dobronsky

I am much better this week. Things are starting to roll my way for a change and I am learning a lot about human behavior. We have one family in Pine Bluffs that seems really interested and we are working on setting up a time to meet with them.  Chris and Rochelle are in their mid-30's by my estimates and have 2 sons. We are very hopeful that things will work out for them. A former investigator called us this week and asked to meet again. We have a meeting with her on Wednesday. In short, I think things are going well. I am working on pushing Dobronsky as hard as I can to start really moving things forward buy I have learned from the past that it is more of a slow process to try and help people be more motivated.

I have talked to the Theobalds and think that we have straightened some things out. They now understand me a bit better and I understand them. I am finding ways to deal with the unfavorable and looking at the good. I am working on my relationship skills right now and that feels like invaluable training.

We got to meet the new mission president last week and I am happy to say that I am sure that he and I are going to get along just great. He seems rather laid back and invested in helping us reach our potential. I am glad that he is here and that I feel so comfortable with him. His wife is awesome as well which is going to make things easier. 

We are still just working on getting things here to good. I am still excited about the the prospects here and am happy to be serving. Wish me luck on our exchange with the Nazi zone leader tomorrow. I can't wait to hear about all the little mind numbingly unimportant things we can improve on.

July 5, 2011

I live with the Theobalds. They are a 75 year old couple that are very nice if not out of date people.  He is a gruff old cowboy, if I ever met one, and doesn't say much, nice guy though. She is a fussing old lady that has to be doing something for us all of the time and is not only fairly dim, but also fairly well annoying. I am sure I have offended her on more than one occasion whether I am trying to help her with something, taking the time to think about a task and doing it in a way that is different than she showed me (because I can do things more effectively that way) or just the differences in my "east coast" mannerisms and her "western ways". I am trying, however, to work on the differences. The thing I am finding intolerable about  the housing is that they are pack rats (a crap load of antiques not garbage) leaving us ZERO room for our things and the place is just dirty. I got food poisoning from the dinner we had with them last night and was up into the wee hours puking my guts out. I am starting to feel better as I write this but I may have an issue with the hygiene and a few "Honest" words to say to them. Pray for me.

I spend my days finding, driving, visiting less actives, driving, doing service, driving. Our area is huge. We have been finding people in Pine Bluffs that are interested and are working on setting up times to meet with them. We got to go to the original Cabela's in Sidney Nebraska for Pday yesterday, which was awesome. I got Russ and the boys hats and will be sending those soon. Pine Bluffs had a descent fireworks display last night and you could really feel the small town vibe as a lady butchered the national anthem.