WEEK 34 - "I could eat"

Welp I am officially a big fan of Easter. Throughout my life I have not put in an ounce of effort to understand the meaning or the significance of this holiday. Easter for me was go to church, take a picture in my church clothes with my family (often a contentious event), wear nice clothes to dinner, and probably watch a video about the resurrection and then I was finally freed and able to go have fun with the things that the Easter bunny graciously delivered to me. This Easter season I have found out that my Easter mindset was very mid. I have learned that Easter is so much more than I previously thought it was. For starters, I have come to the knowledge that Easter is a week-long celebration and not just a one day thing. I frankly was unaware that the Garden Of Gethsemane and the Last Supper and the other final events of Jesus Christ’s life were part of this celebration. Today in sacrament meeting while the sacrament was happening I was reading in my Bible in Luke 24 and it says “Why seek ye the living among the dead? He is not here, but is risen” and goodness me, I just burst out in tears. Why do we seek the living among the dead? He is already risen, so what reason do we have to fear? It will all be ok in the end, if it’s not ok, it’s not the end. The only reason that I can say that is because Jesus Christ died for us and on the third day He lived again. I think sometimes we take this knowledge for granted and we are like “ah neat” and then move on with our lives, but why? I love my job as a missionary. Every single day I get to remind people that they have a Saviour who lived, died, and lived again for them. So I invite everyone reading this to not look for the living among the dead, and to come to Jesus Christ today. I know it will heal us, and I know He has saved us. This week was one of the best weeks on my entire mission. We found so many people who I firmly believe are gonna be baptized and it just so cool to see the amount of success that this area is having right now. I have also seriously enjoyed my time with my sweet little child Elder Yee, he is such an amazing companion. Let me tell you about him and this week: - Elder Yee is such a valuable soul, I have thoroughly enjoyed being his companion. He was super shy at first, but after like 3 days Elder Yee transitioned into the menace that he is. He also loves the work we are doing and the friends we are teaching and it is just so enjoyable being around him (until he gets sassy, but that is like a rare occurrence). He is very proud of his islander roots so I have recently just randomly been breaking out into songs like Melikalika Maka, somewhere over the rainbow, or where you are from Moana. I cannot explain why I do this, but it just brings me so much joy everytime I see his reaction. Me and him get along so well. Something that I have noticed whilst being on my mission, is that my companions develop poor nutritional habits while they are with me. Elder Campbell suffered serious financial consequences from the amount of buffalo wild wings he was buying, Elder Cox was fine, and Elder Brown's diet was nothing to write home about. Elder Yee is no exception. One night this week for dinner a member ordered us chick fil a and dropped off some peanut butter bars to go along with it. Every 10 minutes Elder Yee makes the same joke where he sees a restaurant or someone talks about food or something and he goes “I could eat” cause he apparently had a lofty overweight friend back home named Robert who said that all the time. So when we got these peanut butter bars Elder Yee naturally was like “I could eat” and snagged himself a peanut butter bar. So I was like “you could eat” and handed him another one, and he laughed so he ate it. Then I did it again. And again. And again for a little while until there were only 3 peanut butter bars left, so he ate the rest of them. It was really funny and all the fellas in the apartment had a good laugh about it. Dinner ended and not even 10 minutes passed and we were knocking on this door and he was like “I can’t do it Elder Horsley” and went to the corner and started violently throwing up. I felt bad, but the moral of the story is that Elder Yee is so funny and we are having such a good time. He is a hard worker and cares about our friends and being a good missionary so much. I literally couldn’t be happier with my companion. - When I first left the chinese branch I was downtrodden. This ward in Tyler I went to was way to normal and I didn’t feel super close to the members, and it was pretty hard for a moment. I do not feel that way anymore. I love the members of this ward and I am strangely gonna be heart wrenched when they pull me away from Tyler. I feel extra close to the youth of this ward, they are so cool. We went to a combined youth activity this week and we played a game called German ball. I thought this German ball was gonna be some like World War 2 history game or something, but no, it was a mega intense version of kickball where it never stops. They asked me to give a spiritual thought, so I talked about the difference between happiness and joy, and after that I was finally able to indulge myself in some German ball. In German ball the defense isn't allowed to move so you have to pass the ball around and try to hit the person who is running. So at the beginning of this game a young child on the team kicks it and my team passes the ball to me and tells me to throw it at them. The kid was super far from me and running as fast as their little legs could take them, so I decided to launch the kickball full speed at this small running target and I absolutely sniped this young child. My team started cheering for my athletic feat, but let me tell you: if I had that shot 1000 more times I would not have landed it. I felt pretty horrible about what I had done to this child because this was a mighty blow for them. But we all had a fun night and we got way closer to the youth. Later in the week I got invited over to the Ceasers for dinner, and they have like 7 kids. The kids were telling me about the new slang and they were like “ooh do you know about rizz?” and I was like “what is a rizz, that sounds like a delicious fruit I will have to try” (I know darn well what rizz is) and their minds were blown that I didn’t know this term. But then they taught me about a new term “stand on business” which means that like you are serious about something. Later in the week I saw one of them with their friends and I was like “that dinner was delicious. Stand on business.” In the most Dad way I could, and the embarrassment within them was soooo funny. I am excited to be Dad for that sole purpose. But ya me and the youth are tight now and I hope to be a young men's leader one day. - I am seriously loving my mission and the spiritual experiences I am having out here. I love these people I am teaching so much and I pray for them and you guys everyday. I miss you all and would love to hear from you so hmu if you are interested. I hope your lives are going wonderfully while I am gone because I love you all so much. Have a great week! - Join for me and Elder Yee things: https://photos.app.goo.gl/qwGY1QhS99ne5wGy8