WEEK 48 - Model Trains

What up everyone I hope y'all had a great fourth of July! I definitely did, I got to hang out with my boy Elder Waters all night, shoutout to him and Jack Barlow (they look the same) and to all the ladies reading this, he goes home momentarily and if I were you, I'd get on that quick before he's taken. He is a tall, good looking dude, super strong testimony, he's got a great personality, and he's got probably the most impressive model train collection you will ever see. So ya, definitely procure that for yourself. The Lord is always so clutch when we put our trust in Him. We have this friend named Billy and I have spent a great portion of my mission trying to help Billy get baptized. I love him so much and I really care about him, so I wanted him to take this wonderful step so badly. Last week we had a lesson with him and I started being pushy with Billy about baptism and I sincerely regret doing that. After that lesson I realized that I alone could not help Billy get baptized, so I decided to let the Lord handle this one. I felt that I had given Billy everything I could give him to help him and it just wasn't enough. We were giving Billy some English lessons the other night, and he was talking about this mean employee who worked at Best Buy who was of Mexican descent and he kept calling him "Mexico man" and saying how rude the "Mexico men" are. Billy started to rank different races and I'll say there is definitely some beef between Billy and the South American people. The conversation was pretty funny, but while he was saying it I just felt peace. For some reason I knew that even though I wasn't talking about baptism with Billy during that lesson, and instead I was listening to him rank ethnicities, it would all work out. The next day we went to church and after class Billy came up to me and said "the 27th" and I was like "pardon" and he pointed at the baptismal font and said he wanted to be baptized on the 27th. I was in awe. Oh the Lord is just so good. Moral of the story is that if you give these things you are so worried about to the Lord, the things that you just cannot do alone, He will handle them and they will all work out. What I miss: family, friends, stocks, one wheel, legos, swimming, Kung fu panda trilogy, elevation, music Oh it pains me to live without those things, but the mission is so worth it oh my gosh. This week was great, let me tell you what happened: - I was super hyped to talk to my family this last Monday, but when I tried to call them I encountered a problem: My background was just Elder Campbell making a seductive face with a cow hat on and I could not get it to go away. On messenger and zoom my background was turned off, but every time I called, there was Elder Campbell smirking right at me. It was funny for like 15 seconds and then I got so mad. After working on this problem for like 30 minutes my parents called me and I answered and they just thought it was hilarious. I just kept getting more mad about my situation. I would go and change some setting and boom everytime I tried calling again, there he was just staring me down. I started working with Samsung support and they were asking me to send pictures and stuff, and I was just so mad with how stupid this problem was. We were going back and forth for like an hour and they genuinely just couldn't figure it out. I decided to go rogue from samsung support, and I went way deep into the settings and found that this picture was put as my permanent call background. I turned it off and I rejoiced. I got to call my family and it was great, but that whole experience just left a crater in my soul. - For a group of people who regularly side with the communist party, the Chinese branch knows how to celebrate this great country. We had a party with our branch this Wednesday and it was just wonderful. I walked into the function and it was a bunch of Chinese folk absolutely pimped out in their UV protection gear, and a plethora of food. Elder Schnieder brought a soccer ball so I decided to bring my kendama, and sadly zero people were interested in the soccer ball, but the kendama was a hit. It was quickly snatched from me and soon my kendama was being passed around like a blunt. I don't think any of them quite grasped what you're supposed to do with a kendama, but they thoroughly enjoyed it. I didn't see that kendama for a longggg time. The party was right by this airport and they had an airshow and fireworks. I thought that the branch wouldn't be that interested in the air show, and I was greatly mistaken. Everytime a plane flew by us 30 phones would whip outta people's pockets and they would get pristine footage of these aircrafts. Each and every time a plane passed they were so hyped, it was so wholesome. There was also this random white dude there and every time a plane would fly by doing literally nothing impressive, he would hop out of his seat and just get so hyped. I love these people so much. Later I was talking to someone, and one of the most unhinged things I have ever heard was spoken to me, but other than that the night was great recreational fun. This was supposedly the 4th biggest firework show in America, and we were 7 minutes from starting, and judas, was I hyped. Then we get a call from some other missionaries and they were like "you need to get home" oh that was so lame. But ya it was a great night, and I hope to be here for the fourth of July next year cause these people know what they're doing. - I love my mission and I love being able to help people every day. It is not easy, but it's so rewarding. I seriously miss all of you and I am excited to one day see everyone again. Good luck everyone going on missions btw, that's lit. I'd love to hear from y'all! Have a great week! Pictures: