WEEK 14 - Arranged Marriage

Heavens, I am extremely grateful to be where I am right now. I really like it here in Texas. I have had a grand total of 2 negative conversations in my entire time here, because everyone is just so nice. I hear in California people are so mean and like make fun of you and come up and film you (not surprised), I bet they do that in places like Portland and Boston and New Jersey and Finlandddd probably smh. But my dislike for those places is a conversation for another day. The point I am making is that the Lord knows where each and every person needs to be. Whether you are a powerful warrior missionary who can survive that type of biome (like my boys who I miss greatly @Elder Molen and Springer and Francom and Washenko and everyone else who I am forgetting who is serving there lol) or a mere mortal who really appreciates a place where people are nice and friendly, and since people are so nice and friendly there you are able to be like 5x better of a missionary with that love around you (me). It doesn't matter who you are the Lord knows where you need to go. Even if your not on a mission. Not 100% sure how college works, but I assume they like pair you up with someone else every now and then. But if that happens you never know how much that person might need you in that very moment. The point I am making with this spiritual thought is that you may not understand why you need to be where you are but the Lord does, so always remember that. Gosh darn it this week was good. It was thoroughly enjoyed. I miss you all so much, you can't possibly fathom. Let me tell you about my week: - It started off with my actual dream coming true. Peter Chen (82 year old legend (if you don't know him by now you haven't read an email of mine haha)) pulled me aside and invited me to his birthday lunch. He must've been confused on how missionaries work, because he was not very interested in inviting Elder Campbell to this event. I had to explain to him that Elder Campbell and me had to be together at all times because we are companions. Peter Chen wasn't completely vibing with this new knowledge I had given him, but he accepted. He told us that he did not trust us to drive so he was going to pick us up with his white friend Charlie (84 year old legend who I once saw jump off a 5 ft rock and literally nothing happened to this elderly man, they are best friends). I took no offense to this at all, mainly because this was but a fraction of what I have heard him comment in Elder's Quorum, and also that just meant more Peter time for me so I was hyped. We got in the car and Peter took no time to get this conversation going. He started talking about arranged marriage and the pro's and con's of it. It may have been from a biased POV, because I did not hear to many con's. From what I am hearing from Peter, this arranged marriage stuff is not that bad. Honestly if I'm like 25 and nothing has worked out (quite likely) I might just give this a try. We went to this wonderful place called King Buffet. It was so good, just mounds of chinese food ready for me to eat, it was heavenly. While we were eating, Charlie started talking about his mission. Idk how it came up but I started talking about how I believe they are gonna open up China soon. This was news to Peter. My man was not happy that there is no missionaries in mainland China. Honestly if anyone reading this has any sort of power (Uncle Clark), may I recommend putting Peter in charge of the task force to get missionaries into China, because he is quite passionate about getting missionaries there now. Peter and Charlie are like my best friends around here, lunch was sooooo fun. - One time not to long ago it was Elder Campbell's bday. I decided to take him out for a nice birthday dinner. I asked him where he wanted to go, and he wanted Buffalo Wild Wings (shoutout to all my bdubs friends I love you). He really liked it and it was really fun. We went another time for a reason I forgot, and then Ma Na gave us money and we went there another time (that was like 4 weeks ago). That time Elder Campbell decided he had had enough of not knowing what every single flavor tastes like. He found purpose in this challenge. We have literally been I think 7 or 8 times since that change of heart. Most of the times he wants to go there I just like to watch him eat. It shouldn't be this fun to watch a human being eat, but something about watching him take a bite of a wing and close his eyes, then think really hard about the flavor while making various noises, then examining the wing for like 15 seconds, then wiping his hands off on a napkin and writing about it in his bdubs review note page, just fuels me with life. Now what you must understand is that bdubs is not cheap, I have literally watched this man physically and economically deteriorate over these past weeks. After I realized that this was becoming a problem for my dear Elder Campbell, I started saying things like "hey man, maybe we should only go like for birthdays or when we baptize someone?" He took my advice and did not use it at all, because we still went all the time. I am absolutely in full support of this now because he is so close. There are 26 flavors and I think he has 4 or 6 left. I am really proud of my man, he set a goal and he is achieving it. Anything is possible if we believe, and Elder Campbell is proving that to everyone. We are going Tuesday and Thursday to finish what needs to be done. Hop on the google photos if you want to see a video of him eating his last wing of the challenge it is going to be epic. Although he is honestly the complete opposite of me, and sometimes is not the most intent on doing missionary work, I have found a indescribable love for this man. I doubted it when we first became companions, but something about seeing people how Christ chooses to see them makes you love them more then you ever imagine you could. - I don't know if I have ever laughed as hard as I did on Thursday at bdubs with him. It honestly probably won't be that funny once I write it out, but oh my goodness I almost literally died when it happened. I made a League of Legends joke on our way there and it gave him the hiccups and he just could not get them to go away (my brother Mckay does the same thing, and it is honestly the most pure form of comedy (not league of legends the hiccup thing lol)) But he ordered his wings and asked for blue cheese with them. The waiter brought his stuff out and she set it down and he let out a MASSIVE hiccup. She looked extremely offended and was like "did you just gag?!?!?! you literally asked for this?" Elder Campbell was STUNNED. He just froze and could not move. I guess he doesn't do well with confrontation. I was laughing so hard that I fell of my chair, in my church clothes, on the bdubs floor. She was just starting at him with so much sass for like 10 seconds and he had nothing come out of him accept like one more hiccup. It was like a was watching a national geographic predator v prey situation. I got back up on my chair but just could not control myself to save my life. I was like gasping for air, and I was finally able to explain the situation to her while i was dying laughing. It ended up being funny to her, and she was like "oh I'm so sorry" and patted his head for some reason. It took Elder Campbell a minute, but he now thinks that experience is hilarious. I have heard him analyze that interaction frame for frame like 10000 times now. He just didn't understand what was going on in the moment I guess. Writing it just can't do it justice, I just wish you all could have been there. - We were at a lunch with our friends Will and Lauryn. They had a really really rough patch this last week and it brought me near tears. It was extremely hard to hear that stuff like that happens to good people. Usually they are pretty good at hiding it, but I could tell something was definitely different with them that day. They are also struggling a tonnnn with finances right now with another kid on the way and they felt so lost and didn't know what to do. They wanted to meet with the missionaries so bad though. We usually pay for our own food, because we don't want to cause them anymore economic distress. But this time felt different. I decided to be disobedient and stand up and sneak my phone with me into the bathroom (rule break #1) and call my dad not on pday (rule break #2). I needed some wisdom and it kinda felt like an emergency so I wouldn't really actually consider it disobedient but idk I felt like i needed to. I explained the situation to my wise father and asked him for some advice, he gave me some really good advice on how to handle the whole situation. We ended up paying for the whole meal. Will didn't order anything because Lauryn was pregnant and she needed to eat, and he didn't have the means to let them both eat. It was breaking my heart. I doubt I'll ever forget telling them I was going to pay for it. Tears. I started crying a little too, Elder Campbell was eating his lunch and wasn't extremely concerned with the current situation. Idk if I have ever felt such Christlike love for people are barely knew at that moment. Good job Dad. When we were driving home Elder Campbell was like "wow, we are probably much more giving then other missionaries." He makes me laugh, bless his heart. - Their moods were lifted exponentially after they heard that. They started asking for our opinions on the name for their new baby boy. Lauryn liked the named Finley. Will liked the name Vercingetorix. I wouldn't wish the name Finley on my worst enemy. So I hopped on team Vercingetorix. I did at first because I was anti Finley. But after some history on this name I was sold. It is such a cool name, Lauryn is not on board though. Will wants 7 kids and he told me, at least one of these children will be named Vercingetorix. That name is just so commanding. Imagine if you saw this email from Vercingetorix Horsely instead of Henry Horsley. You would probably read it. But not saying the name Henry is not cool, just Vercingetorix was a French leader who almost toppled Julius Caesar's empire with 1/3 of the troops so... Elder Campbell teamed with Lauryn on team Finley. Am I surprised? Not at all. I'll keep you updated but, if I have anything to say about this, the child will be named Vercingetorix. - I hope you were able to read the email, I love writing them. I hope you all had the most incredible week, I would die of happiness if you told me about it. Elder Campbell is probably leaving this week, I will miss him, I hope my next companion provides such fun stories for my next email. I LOVE YOU ALL, please have such a wonderful week, I care about you arguably 3x more than you care about me, so when you have a good week I am 3x happier. Make your week good for me, love you! Talk to you next week! Google Photos for the epic finale of Elder Campbell: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qwGY1QhS99ne5wGy8 Pictures: 1. Peter and Charlie at lunch 2. Jolly Elder Campbell at bdubs 3. Elder Campbell being silly 4. My Christmas spirit is unmatched 5. Fun picture at service 6. Elder Campbell full of passion during studies