Sweet New Investigator

August 19, 2012

 

Dearest family,

Thank you so much or your letters of encouragement, support, and testimonies. Good news… I finally got the PACKAGE!!! It is so nice to have a clean pair of socks everyday. It makes me really happy. Oh and the candy was good. It lasted a day. I shared most of it with everybody. I figured it's more valuable seeing people get a kick out of "American lollies" then keeping them all for myself. It was also funny because of the way they pronounced “Mamba”. They also have a hard time saying my name "Conna"

TO answer your question mom…our mission kinda has a lame rule about eating dinner and being done by 6pm and no later. Sorry it’s not lame. I need a better attitude about this one. ;) Anyways, pretty much all of Auckland shuts down by 6:00 too, sooo a lot of families complain to us about it. We are only allowed 4 meals a week too. Sooo normally we have something dropped off which is alright. We just don’t get to talk with the members and help them with their missionary efforts, but on the other hand they usually fill our fridge or buy enough KFC to feed 6. When we do make it into member’s homes, which happens very rarely, I almost die every time... Yes I have had to stuff my rain jacket pockets before. Every Polynesian’s rule is NOBODY leaves until everything is gone and they like to pick on me because I’m the skinny white guy. :) Oh and a lot of members we seek referrals from or less active people we visit will usually offer us something to eat, or they just make it and then tell us to go eat. SO yeah I’m pretty well taken care of. I don’t think I will have to worry about losing weight on my mission.

Anyways this week had its ups and downs. We found a sweet new investigator named Alex. He was referred about a month and a half ago and we managed to contact him once. He wanted to get baptized but every time we went to visit, he was never home. Thursday night though I felt like we should head over there. He came to the door and he was in bad shape. He began to tell us how he was hit by a drunk driver. It destroyed 3 disks in his back and his left arm. Long story short, he lost his job and still has a family of 4 to provide for. He is a pretty rough character you know the type that likes to include obscenities in every sentence??? Well, that’s him. It was so cool though while we bore our testimony about the atonement and talked with him about Jesus Christ his whole countenance changed, even his language.

Brother Armstrong emailed you huh? That guy is so awesome. He used to be the previous mission president’s counselor. He helps us out heaps. Definitely go find his son in Mesa or send him cookies or something. That would be pretty cool. Funny thing is he played for Highland rugby. Remember the movie, Forever Strong? haha Oh and speaking of rugby, this Saturday Brother Armstrong helped start rugby touch as a ward activity that people could bring their friends to. We decided to skip our 5 o’clock dinner (we didn't have anyone assigned that night) to go play. At first I felt so out of place cuz I had no idea what was going on. I started to get the hang of it by the end though and actually started doing pretty good. They nick-named me the All-American All-American.

I love you guys so much... oh and hey I liked the questions mom. You should have everyone ask questions that have been on your mind.

Dad good job cutting down those tree branches. Happy Birthday!!! This year you get a chainsaw for your birthday next year you get a walker and adult diapers :) haha Just kidding. I appreciate you soo much dad and all the things you took the time to do with me. Whether it was teaching me a lesson by throwing me on a big stack of pillows asking me certain gospel questions, or serving others like Kirk Jones, Sister Wainsguard, or other family members. Everything you did doesn't go unnoticed by me and especially by Heavenly Father, and it still doesn't! I watched all 20 of those Mormon messages and one of them is titled “Be Ye Men”... I think. It was D. Todd Christofferson telling the story of the husband who skipped lunch for a long time so that he could buy that ironing board thingy so his wife wouldn't have to go in the other room and cry because her hands hurt so bad when she ironed from the surgery she had on them. Anyways, it made me think of you... you’re not perfect like mom but you’re sure the number 1 dad in the world and I think all of your priests would agree that you’re a pretty great father to them as well.

Love Elder Ward #2