So I guess I'm just going to start things out by letting y’all know the first thing us missionaries think as we start an email....
1. Alright, time to finally buckle down, write something, and stop reading E-mails and hoping that something new will pop up
2. So I'm supposed to talk about this whole last week
3. I have a half hour to do it
4.The week flew by so fast I don't even remember what happened
5. Stare out the window and then realize I've still gotta write a letter and do 5,000 other things today
6. Finally remember a couple events from last week but realize that they have nothing to do with each other.....
7. Think of a way to make them flow
8. Think of another way to make them flow and sound good
9. Give up and adopt the idea of re-runs in 'E-mail' form
10. Remember how cool it sounds when you get praise on your letters
11. Decide you can do it and try to work the subjects out in Bullet point form
12. Get distracted
13. Look through some pictures and think about just sending 3 of those....after all, a picture says a thousand words....that equals a 3,000+ word e-mail
14. Realize you forgot a title and pull out something completely random to see if you'll get any responses
15. Hope that another e-mail comes
16. Think of how you want to start without saying "Well...", "Life Is...", "This Week...", "Hey Family!", "So..."
16. Give up on waiting and finally just write whatever comes to mind.....
Hey Family!!! Well so this week life is pretty awesome out here in good ol’ East Texas! Full of miracles, lazy eyes, longhorns, and missing teeth! Uncle Tom would have a heart attack out here if he saw the dental crisis!!! (Shout out to the Ludlows! Thanks for the B-Day Package! Loved It!) I figured I'd break it down from here to share with y’all the "shocking" experiences we had this last week!
So for our dinner appointment last night, we went out to the Shirley's house in the middle of Kelsey Texas (most backwoods part of the world I've seen in my life. They should post a disclaimer before you enter the town with a Confederate Flag as the background.)
After our dinner, the Mom got a phone call from one of her kids that's somewhere around the world...and the Dad just looked at us for a second and said, "Now, I really want y’all to come outside and try touchin the fence." The fence he was referring to was out in the front yard and is called "hot wire." You see them everywhere out in the country, mostly on the inside of barbed wire fences or wherever you don't want hogs to get in. But this family had it around their front yard which was pretty weird and made things look even more redneck...but I guess whatever floats your bass-fishin boat.... So we just started flipping out, wondering if this guy was for reals? He continued trying to convince us that it was set at low voltage and will give you a decent shock if you touch it with one finger, but if you grab it with your hand, it'll spread out the surface area and you'll barely be able to feel the electricity. Basic East Texas Science. Oh and by the way, I forgot to mention that he's a physics teacher. Welcome to Texas y’all. He kept trying to explain it to us and we wouldn't do it until we saw him finally grab the wire, and we would just twitch every second. After holding onto it for about four seconds, he finally let go and told us about how it was timed, but you can still barely feel it.
Since we saw him grab it, we figured it wasn't any Jurassic Park fence, so we were thinking about grabbing it, but still flipping out! I was so anxious and wanted to beat out Elder Nuckols, so my sweaty hand finally just grabbed the wire.........nothing.........and then everyone except Elder Nuckols just ran away laughing so hard they were crying while shouting "It's turned off!!!! It's turned off!!! I can't believe you actually fell for it!"
So....lesson learned about lame redneck jokes, never grab hot wire because it can mess you up. We found it out without having to touch it...but about those redneck jokes, you can never tell if the fence is on or off and they won't hesitate to get you to touch either.
Our convert Chris is also from Kelsey, Texas. He decided he would spend his Saturday trying to learn how to throw knives. He ended up at the Hospital getting stitches.
He was at the hospital a few days before that when, working on the Lumber yard, he accidentally cut his eye with some wood. He was in the hospital two weeks ago for the same problem. I've never met such accident prone people.
We started teaching a family that owns a huge longhorn ranch! The Longhorns are so big it's ridiculous! I'm going to try to get on their good side and see if I can't get one of those sent home with me....ballin through the streets of Los Angeles with some Longhorns mounted on the front of my ride....nuthin but a G thang
I'm 21!!!
I spent my 21st Birthday the Texas way....at a Bar!!!
It was a BarBQ.
Inside the BBQ I got loaded up at the Bar!
It was the Salad Bar...delicious Potato Salad...compliments the 16oz Steak perfectly!
The guy that took us out there was actually a miracle the way we found him....(Rewind two weeks...)
So we were at the Gilmer vs. Prestonwood Game, and during halftime is when we get the bulk of our contacting in. After seeing the normal people that were there the week before and getting shrugged off from some "not so well taken" contacts, the second half was about to start along with our curfew. So right before we headed out, we just looked behind us and started to contact that guy and found out he was a less active member of the church in the ward we don't cover. So we just got his information and told him we'd send the other missionaries over. He had kind of a funny look on his face, but so does everyone when they see guys in white shirts and ties at a football game.
(Fastforward to last week....) So while we were leaving our English class at church, Sister Miller stopped us and asked us straight up, "Y’all remember talking to my brother at the ball game? Who sent y'all to contact him?????" We were kind of taken aback trying to think about who she was talking about (because everyone....literally EVERYONE is related to EVERYONE out here in Gilmer. It isn't quite like the city where your dating options are almost endless...the options are few in small towns...it's kind of weird but whatever.) So she explained to us how she was a Dixon, and then we finally remembered our last contact of the night. She then explained to us how he had been inactive for about 25 years now, but just a few weeks ago saw a copy of the Book of Mormon at work. So he picked it up during down time and said he "couldn't put it down." He finished the book within three weeks, looked at his life, and took it to God about how he wanted to clean his life up. Within just a few days, he was contacted by a couple missionaries at a Football game....of all places....a Football game. So Sister Miller asked us again..."Who sent yall to contact him???" Elder Nuckols and I looked at each other and grinned thinking, "I guess it came from a little higher up the leadership chain." So we told her God sent the referral via Football and bolted out the door to get to his house. We're now teaching Brother Dixon who split his Drinking and Smoking in half and takes us to Steakhouses. Living the dream baybay. Living the dream....
Just a normal day back in the homestead: "Welcome To LOS ANGELES!!! Famous For Its Tourist Attractions and Auto Shows!!!"
Just a normal day in Gilmer...."Howdy yall. Welcome to Gilmer. Famous for its annual Yamboree and Tractor Shows."
Hope yall enjoy the pics haha. Back in L.A. I got a pic with my favorite Red Audi R8. This is the Texas version: the 1962 Red Farmall Model 140 with a 2 cylinder engine and 6 horsepower.
Les Quiero Tantisimo!!!! Gracias a mi familia, mis abuelas, y a todos por las mensajes que me han enviado para mis cumpleanos!!!
Elder Wilson
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