WEEK 25 - Strong Like A Cow

I'll be honest at the beginning of the mission I didn't really think that the gift of tongues was a real thing. I thought that it was just kinda a synonym for language study for missionaries serving in South America. Pretty much every email I was reading at the time was like "gift of tongues gift of tongues gift of tongues." And I was like "judassss I wish these people could talk about anything else." But they couldn't. They kept literallly only talking about the gift of tongues. I never really saw this gift of tongues thing happen, until the other day I looked back on my chinese abilities throughout my mission. At the beginning my chinese was decent, but I couldn't teach really well because it was so hard to learn the dang church words. I studied chinese for an hour a day, but really wasn't grinding the dang church words. And then boom, I don't remember when, but all the sudden I can teach the lessons good and I know the words. So ya it may not sound that crazy to you but I just wanted all of you to know that God is helping me out in all kinds of ways out here, and I know if you put your faith in Him, He can help you too. Whether its like the gift of tongues or scoring a 300 in bowling or something (I forgot what people do back home haha). But my challenge this week is to put your faith in God, and see the miracles that come from it! - It is lovely out here and I am thoroughly enjoying my time i'll have you know. Let me tell you why this week was great: - So at the beginning of this week I went over to an english area for an exchange. We went out with a member to do some stop by lessons for some people in their ward who needed a visit, and the first house we went to was quite the experience. When we arrived we got invited in and me and the missionary I was with introduced ourselves. Then the member we were with introduced himself saying "hello I'm Brother ___. By the way, you don't have to worry. I am definetly voting for Trump." Apparently that is the respectful way to introduce yourself in this part of Texas. But this member stop by quickly turned into the dang republican caucus. After many questions about our parents political beliefs I was finally able to get in a spiritual thought. I gave a spiritual thought on trials and how if we view them in a celestial way, they can bring us hope for the future. I firmly believed that I had done a good job with this spiritual thought, but apparently I had not. After I had given the thought, the two women in the room were like "thank you we needed to hear that." But the guy in the room did not like my spiritual thought as much. I don't quite remember why he didn't like it but I do remember that he made it clear that he disagreed with what I said. Oh well. Then we left and the member asked us if we wanted to get Hawaiian food with him. It was getting late and we had to be back soon, but he made it clear that our lives will forever be different if we don't try this Hawaiian food. So we did. While we ate food he was like "this reminds me about this one time my wife was on this reality cooking show." So I naturally asked him for a bit of clarification. I was like "wait what! Your wife was on a cooking show?" Little did I know the consequences that were to come from that question. He told me how he got his wife on the show "the worst cooks in america." He honestly could have been like "I noticed my wife was a bad cook, so I said "honey lets have you join this show" then we went and applied and she made it and got third place." But this man chose to spare not one detail of this story. I don't know if I have ever heard a more detailed story in my entire life it was insane. It was a wonderful story, but it did not feel great getting back home wayyyy later then we should have. I tried to interupt and say like "hey can we finish this story in the car" but that was just not even possible. It was a super fun night and the member was awesome I love him, but I have literally no reason to ever watch season two of worst cooks in america, because I know literally everything that happens. - Ok I try to write with some variety in these emails. But gosh darn, Elders Quorum is always a must include, and this week was no acception. My best friend Peter Chen was teaching today and he did not dissapoint. The lesson was all over creation today, but one of the topics was the name of the church. Peter was telling us why we need to not call ourselves mormons. It was a good message that we all need to be reminded of, but then he turned on friendly fire and talked about how chinese people are the worst at this and they will be condemned for it. Then that led him into his thoughts on the american educational system. After his closing regards about the american educational system, he jostled over to me and looked me in the eyes and said "you beautiful boy." I wasn't entirely sure where that comment came from, but my guess is that it is because I am a product of the poor educational system of america but I have overcome it or something? I am not sure I will pay more attention next time. Then we got back on track. He began telling the story about how the Lord has helped him through his wifes sickness. It was a splendid thought with some good replies from the class. Then it once again took a turn. He started talking negatively about perscription drugs and why we needed to be careful with them. I knew something was about to go down when he jostled his way over to me once again. He got really close to me and looked into my soul and said "marijuana.... NO. Don't do that Elder Horsley." I love Peter so much oh my goodness. It was impossible for me not to laugh in this moment, so I did. But don't worry, we slowly got back on topic again. We talked about how Jesus Christ can help us through our trials. Peter asked me how I felt about this and I said "we do are best, and he'll handle the rest." He paused and then repeated it back to me. He was very proud and then copyrighted this saying the rest of the class. Finally we got back on the topic of perscription drugs and he was saying how they work different on different people. He said "my wife is so tiny. She is not like Elder Horsley. Elder Horsley is strong like a cow!" I was hoping for maybe a different animal to be compared to, but you can't win em all. Such a fun Elders Quorum, definitely a highlight. - Oh heavens, what a great way to finish the week. I miss you all a lot and would love to hear from you! Thank you to everyone who has read to this point. It's sometimes hard to convince myself to write an email cause it takes like an hour, but then I finish and I'm like "hm that was fun to remember all of that." I hope you all have a great week, thank you for reading! Love you soooooo much! GP: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qwGY1QhS99ne5wGy8 Pictures: 1. Very dope restaurant with some good hot pot 2. Our inflated bodies after all you can eat shrimp 3. Zone conference 4. Elder Cox ready to feast