WEEK 18 - "Call The Police"

So every year me and my family go to disneyland with our neighbors the Andrewsen's. Think about the most fun thing you have ever done and times it by like 8, and that's pretty much what this experience is like. This year we went (without Mckay and Lance gosh darn it) on August 3rd and 4th, and good heavens, it was sooooo fun. I became a missionary on August 6th. Idk what I thought being a missionary would be like, but I will just say that being a missionary was not even close to as fun as disneyland. I went from mobbing on the dang Incredicoaster with my family and the Andrewsen's (except my Dad, he "claims" it makes him sick and he is just there for the family time idk) to like being a missionary and my new option for fun was like pondering or journaling ughhhh. Again I don't think I 100% grasped what you were supposed to do on mission, but let me tell you, this was quite the letdown. Once I got to the MTC I was just praying that this whole mission thing would just go by so fast, and I would be back to normal life soon. But the longer I am out here, the more I am grateful for the time I have. There are 2 types of happiness in this world. One type comes from super dope things like disneyland. Then there is the more important type of happiness, and I would call this more joy than happiness. And I didn't quite understand this joy until I was able to help others come unto Christ, and watch Him change their lives. In this world you can choose happiness or joy. You have to pick one. Plot twist, I pick both. Because the gospel is awesome and so is disneyland with the Andrewsen's. So the moral of this story is that I do not want time to just suddenly pass anymore, I want to continue experience this joy as much as possible by helping people truly know Jesus Christ. But like once I have truly soaked up this joy for a normal speeded 2 years I will be ready to hit disneyland again so prepare yourselves andrewsen's and family. But I challenge you all to not always look for just happiness, but to also look for joy. If this week was a disneyland ride I would say it is the millennium falcon ride. So that translates to like a solid 8 out of 10. And thats mastery so thats great. Let me tell you about it: - So we started the week off wonderfully with a meal with Ma Na. The cuisine this week was pretty intense because it consisted of foods like pig ear curry, pork intestine soup, and some animal kidneys. Elder Campbell calls himself "an enjoyer of things" about 17 times a day, but lets just say not even Elder Campbell enjoyed these foreign delicacies, so a Ma Na meal was very welcomed by both me and Elder Campbell. It was this expensive hot pot restaurant with tons of really nice meats and like noodles and stuff. We got on the topic of movies and since Ma Na was not a hard core anime consumer, Elder Campbell decided that this topic of conversation was not for him. So it was up to me to talk to Ma Na about movies which was incredibly easy because I miss movies so much. This ended up being pretty much the entire meals conversation honestly. Ma Na lovessss space movies, so naturally I was like: "Ma Na, have you seen interstellar?" and she was like "no, what is it about?" After I had time to recover from the initial shock of a human being not seeing that movie, I showed her how she could watch it. I was so sure she was going to love this movie because all of her favorite movies were space themed, but at church today I was like "Ma Na! did you watch it? how did you like it?" and she was like "eh, it was almost 3 hours, I do not like very much" that broke my heart a little, but thats ok. The meal was super good though, and Ma Na is so fun to hang out with, and her cyber truck comes soon. Elder Campbell had about 1 entire lamb to many, because he was absolutely beat after that meal, but overall a great experience. - We had a member meal on Friday with our dearest friends Ed and Pat this week. They invited us to their home which was a short 45 minutes away. We pulled up and walked in and it was pretty normal for like 15 seconds. Then their massive dog ran in and ran towards us. Elder Campbell values his life quite highly, so he immediately began to seek refuge behind me. The dog then jumped up and bit the crap out of my arm, that did not feel good at all (shoutout to my boy easton who goes through this on a daily basis). Then Ed (who is about 5'2") completely jumped on the dog and started screaming at it and attacking it. Idk what people these days consider animal abuse, but i'm pretty darn sure that this qualifies. I'm not sure why but there was a lot of sympathy given to Elder Campbell after I was bitten by their dog. This scared him or something idk, but they made sure that he was ok before checking on the man who was bitten. The lack of sympathy coming my way was confusing me so much that I just about forgot about the pain that I was experiencing for a second, so that was nice. The daughter who is training the dog claimed that the dog had only scratched me, which was strange position to take, given that there were bite marks on my arm. After they finally agreed it was a bite then they started becoming concerned for me and gave me like neosporin and stuff. Then we texted the medical coordinator Sister Barton to see what we should do. She told me I had to ask for proof of vaccination. There have been some awkward experiences on my mission, but asking this very defensive family for proof of vaccination was daunting. They are not the type of people who would take someone asking for proof of vaccination very well. I did, and they were originally taken back from it, but they let me see it, so in my mind we were all good. False. We got in the car after and the medical coordinator told me "You need to call the police." These people did not like me asking for proof of vaccination, so I can only imagine how they would respond to me showing up with law enforcement to take their dog away. So I simply asked my parents what I should do, and strangely enough, we agreed that an armed policeman would not be necessary. Honestly the whole experience shook up Elder Campbell, so lets get some prayers for this man. - In church today I had the opportunity to sit by Peter Chen in Elders Quorum. We had a lesson about the pioneers and how each of them mattered, and how that relates to the church today. There was a point where they were arguing over what year Texas became a state. They could not come to a conclusion, so Peter Chen stood up and pulled out his american secret weapon: me. I did not know the answer and they were extremely disappointed. My approval rating was probably like 92% before this, but I think this dropped me to like 85%. They just couldn't believe that someone from america does not know such critical information about their own country. The only time I have seen disappointment like that in Peter Chen is when he is talking about his grandson or Elder Campbell. So I will make it up to him. I thought I had just made myself a new enemy, but then Peter made a comment on how our hearts need to be in the right place and so he place his hand on my chest and was told the class I was very strong, so I sincerely appreciated that, thank you Peter. Then the teacher said a quote that was like: "the best people who have ever lived weren't very famous" and Wei Ming Wang stood up and was like "NO MAO ZE DONG!" The class agreed and we went to a new topic. They love Mao Ze Dong here haha. Maybe I have been stuffed full of anti communist propaganda because I have heard this dude was not that good of a person, but idk. Church was good though I had a good time, lots of friends came. - So ya this week was pretty good, I hope all of your weeks were even better. I love you all so much, thank you to those who read my subpar emails, and double thank you to those who reach out to me! Have an amazing Christmas season for me, because here in the chinese branch we are kinda just waiting for Chinese new year haha. See you next week! Google photos is fun: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qwGY1QhS99ne5wGy8 Pictures: 1. dinner with the gang 2. this kind bear gave me a hug 3. red 4. pig ear curry