Merrih Chrism

 เฮลโล Hello!

Pretty amazing week! For the hibernators among you, this week was Christmas! It was pretty fun! Thanks to everyone who sent me stuff! 

TRACTING HIGHLIGHTS

We did hours and hours of tracting this week. It was a grind! But it was worth it. Why, you ask? Well, let me tell you! 

- We got to a door with a doormat that said, "come back with a warrant." Who opened? This super super nice lady! She says that recently she's been trying to strenghten her relationship with God. She gave us coconut water, we gave her a Book of Mormon, and she invited us back! 

- We were trying a new apartment complex late at night. We were just going to try it out and head back home because we didnt have much longer. The first door that we knock, this guy opens up and he says, "oh my gosh, you guys are doing this in the cold? Come in!" He said he wasn't religious and he probably wasn't worth our time, but we sat down and over some Call of Duty, we had an actually amazing discussion about why we believe what we do. We got to share our personal conversion stories. He invited us back, and we caught him on Sunday. We shared about the Restoration and he is very interested in reading the Book of Mormon!

- One door opened up and this older guy was behind it and asked who we were. We told him that we were missionaries. He then said, direct quote, ""Would you like to come in and drink some blood and get naked?" We were pretty caught off guard. Laughed and said no, so he said, "Then get the h*ll out of here!" I'm very worried about what this man has in his apartment.

- We were doing a ton of knocking on Christmas Eve. After knocking a door with a "No Soliciting" sign (because proselytizing is different from soliciting, but that's another subject), we got no answer. We moved on to the next door, which was right next to the first one, and while waiting on that door, the first door opens. Behind it is a man with no shirt, long greasy hair, a gaming headset on, and I swear chip crumbs in his stringy beard. He starts screaming at us about being in front of his door so long, about the no soliciting sign, and about anything else he could find to be mad about. Many F-Bombs were dropped. He slams the door, opens it again to scream a little more, and slams it again. Just as this was happening, our zone leaders pulled into the parking lot of the complex and saw the whole thing happen. They were laughing so hard!

That's kinda the thing about being a missionary. You have to take the good with the bad. Both will come. But I've learned that if you can laugh about the bad experiences, like those two guys I mentioned, they become good experiences. Those are things I'll be talking about weeks, even months or years from now and I'll be able to look on them fondly, because honestly, they're hilarious.

BUNNIES OF THE BUSH

We are going on morning runs every few days. We have a trail right next to our hotel that we like to run on. One morning, it was really frosty and foggy. As we start running we see a few rabbits just chilling on the side of the trail. When we got close, they just straight up jumped into blackberry bushes off the side! If you know anything about blackberry bushes, you know they are super thorny! Even bush man wouldn't hide in those. There were rabbits in random spots along the trail. All of them jumped. We also have to run under a bridge for a second on this trail. As we were running one day, we saw this homeless person in the way just sleeping on the pavement. Kinda like Snorlax. We regained our composure and booked it past him.

LAST THINGS LAST

- we found a really ghetto playground with a half-buried tire, rusty monkey bars, and a punching bag. Catch me there on P Day.

- Uno Twist is super fun.

- I won a game called garbage. Which is pretty fitting.

- Roses are red, violets are blue, you've heard this before, but I love you!

เอ็ลเดอร์ เอาปืนมาสำหรับความปลอดภัย (Elder brought a gun for safety)

Elder Barrett

Preaching to the Mexican Choir

 เฮลโล Hello!

Welcome back to my weekly TED talk. It's an honor to be here. So, I got transferred last week to the Alki YSA Branch in Seattle. It's pretty crazy, pretty awesome. There are/were a couple Springville High alumni over here, so that's pretty crazy. Also a piano player who sings and plays like he's a baptist in Alabama. Plus all of his concert lights and disco ball. It's pretty unbelievable.

UNINTENTIONALLY ILLEGAL ACTIVITY

So, a few days out of the week, we wake up early and go to the ZL's apartment to work out. There are a lot of missionary apartments in this complex, and they typically have pictures of Jesus on the front door when missionaries are there. The ZLs don't have one, but it's easy to remember where they live, because one of those doors with Jesus is right across from theirs. So when we got to the complex, we found the picture and started knocking on the door across from it, where the ZLs live. We knocked for about 15 minutes. Knocking, talking through the door, saying "let us in!" "Are you still asleep?" "If you don't let us in we're gonna break down the door!" Etc. At one point, Elder Knapp even unscrewed the peephole and started talking INTO the house. After about 15 minutes of this, Elder Knapp realized that this was not, in fact, the ZLs, but actually just a random apartment. So we booked it out of there and found the ZLs apartment across from another Jesus picture, on the same floor, just another building. So, we probably scared some random stranger to DEATH! Whoops.

FELIZ NAVIDAD

We were out on Sunday, trying to find some people we had met earlier in the week at this sketchy apartment complex (and there are a LOT of those around here). We get there, and we see in the parking lot there are about 25-30 Mexicans wearing all white. They're all just kinda congregated together. We decided that we would check on the person we came here to see first, and then drop some spiritual knowledge on the congregation. We knock on our friend's door, and we hear music start playing. And what song could it be, but Feliz Navidad. Our friend didn't answer and we see they're all singing this song and dancing together for one of their relatives who was inside and watching and dancing from a window. By the time we actually got close enough to them, they were starting to get into their cars and drive off, so we just wished them all a merry christmas. What I wouldn't give to be a Spanish Elder in that moment haha.

WE CAN'T STOP AND WE WON'T STOP

We have been GRINDING out here. We are both new to the area, and there is just about nothing to go off of. There are only like 15 active members of the branch. We are definitely going to try to make that better, because there's at least 100 members in the ward directory. We also have just been going from apartment complex to apartment complex and talking to anyone and everyone. We've met some really really cool people. Some who are actually genuinely interested. And I'm so excited to actually get back to teaching! We've gone to some super ghetto spots to try to find these diamonds in the rough. And it's working! Hopefully next week I'll be able to share about some experiences with our new friends.

LAST THINGS LAST

- We accidentally drove into the airport. These roads are confusing!!

- I am the dog whisperer.

- We stopped by a goodwill and I found a great sweater for christmas.

- We had a drive thru caroling thing at the church. So I got an excuse to scream at oncoming cars.

- Being hardened by the inner city doesn't change the irrefutable fact that I love you!

เอ็ลเดอร์ อย่าถูกยิง (Elder, don't be shot)

Elder Barrett

 

Hello, Seattle (For real this time)

 เฮลโล Hello!

Hey hey everybody! It's been a pretty typical week in the life of a missionary. A lesson here, a missed appointment or two there. But hey! Can't complain. I have some good news, though! I'm getting transferred! I know you die hard Benson Hill lovers will be a little disappointed, but all of you Seattle homers will be excited to hear that I'll be serving in the Alki YSA Branch!!! That's in the Seattle Stake, so blast that Owl City song and let's do this!!

I LIKE TO MOVE IT MOVE IT

We shifted our furniture moving ability into high gear this week. We were helping our friend Jim move out pretty much all week long. We went some pretty crazy places to drop off furniture. I'm talking about a random trailer in Enumclaw, a house in Auburn, and a fire pit in Kent! It was a party. Especially when we picked up some subway on the way back.

TIN FOIL HAT ON

Ok, so I need to talk to y'all about something. It's very important to me, so please pay attention. A little over a year ago, Elder Andersen came to speak to us in the MTC for Thanksgiving. It was great! Had a great time, shook his hand, all that jazz. Then I go to Thailand. Who shows up to talk to us? Elder Andersen. That's pretty funny, isn't it? Like, what are the odds? Then I get reassigned to the Washington Seattle Mission. This last week we were informed that an apostle would be speaking to us. Do you know who it was that came to speak to us? Anyone wanna take a guess? No, not Jesus. No! It was ELDER ANDERSEN! The third time in a row. So, I'm being stalked by an apostle. It's whatever.

UNLESS SOMEONE LIKE YOU CARES A WHOLE AWFUL LOT

Nothing is gonna get better, it's not! I was reading a talk by Neal A Maxwell called "Encircled in the Arms of His Love." I had a cool impression come to my mind and I figured I'd share it with you:

"Laman and Lemuel, for instance, were aware of ancient Israel’s miraculous rescue from Pharaoh’s mighty armies, but they murmured and were intimidated by a mere, local Laban"

   - there are so many trials that come up in my life that I'm too proud or too selfish to actually accept help. I feel like Laban and Lemuel were honestly content with just having the problem. Not being able to get the plates from Laban proves that Lehi is crazy and that what's been asked of them is too hard. It validates their complaining and murmuring. But we don't get better by failing and saying, "well I cant do anything about it anymore, looks like I was right and this thing was too hard." Anything can be done and accomplished through our efforts and faith in Christ. If we are humble enough to want to overcome our trials, we will become more like Jesus Christ, who overcame everything.

So, hopefully that makes sense to you, like it did in my head!

LAST THINGS LAST

- A member explained the entire history of how Laos became an independent nation. In Thai! So that was awesome.

- I lost my last game of cover your assets I will ever play in Benson Hill.

- I'll see y'all in Seattle! A change in scenery doesn't mean I'm ever gonna stop loving you!

เอ็ลเดอร์ ซีแอตเทิล (Elder Seattle)

Elder Barrett

I got her machine! Her answering machine?

No, interestingly enough, her leaf blower picked up.

เฮลโล Hello!

Your favorite human leaf blower is back! It was a week full of service, english classes, and unanswered phone calls. Pretty basic week for a missionary nowadays, I think.

OH, YOU'RE HAVING A PAR-TYYY

A recent convert was having a little birthday party, and invited us to come! We agreed, because who can say no to free cake, right? We showed up, and wouldn't you know it, as we're putting up decorations the District Leader and his companions drop in. Cool, the more the merrier! Then while we're wrapping presents, the Zone Leaders show up! Ok, cool stuff. But now this house is getting a little crowded. Some more friends drop by. This is a full apartment, dude. Then we hear that the STL trio is on their way. Luckily, very on brand for them, they were an hour and a half late. So we were already almost done at that point. Anyways, it was awesome. The Zone Leaders took our food for us biking Elders and told us they'd drop it at our door. It wasnt there when we got home. Sus? Definitely. 

RAKE ON ME RAKE ME ON

We are raking experts. We've gotten so skilled at raking up leaves, it's hard to talk about it and stay humble. But we've logged in HOURS of leave raking this week. This transfer? More than I can count! And not just because I can't count very high. But, we have an awesome friend we rake for, and he brings us Wendy's every time we go over. It's amazing.

TONIGHT, WE RIDE

And ride, and ride, and ride. My legs are gonna fall off, y'all. Benson Hill is exactly what is sounds like. Just a huge hill. My biggest problem is that my bike isnt good for downhill or uphill. And, even though everywhere we go is uphill both ways in a blizzard, whenever I go downhill, my brakes do a whole lot of nothing to slow down. It's scary stuff And biking uphill is just a bad time, but that's not news to you. We biked so hard on Sunday, that when we got to our appointment, my entire shirt was moist. It was so gross.

LAST THINGS LAST

- Y'all better be out there lighting the world!

- I really miss playing basketball and going on actual runs. Exercise is underrated.

- Wingstop wings arent spicy. I don't care what the heat scale thingy says, it sits on a throne of lies.

- All of this gratitude and Christmas spirit is amazing. It's joyful AND triumphant! Y'know what else is joyful and triumphant? You! I love you!

เอ็ลเดอร์ พึ่งพาซีเรียล (Elder relies on cereals)

Elder Barrett

$ MTC Cribz $

 เฮลโล Hello!

What's up?? It's been a pretty uneventful week, but there are a few things that happened that I'm pumped to share. This email just might be a little fun-sized.

MECHANIC? YEAH THATS ME.

We were facing a very empty week, so a member proposed that we help him with taking out an old Land Rover engine. We were in!!! Tell you what, this thing is a beast!! I don't know a thing about engines, but my comp and the member kept talking about how they've never seen anything like it. 2 days, not much progress. But I did unscrew some stuff for a while, so from the outside it probably looked like I knew what I was doing! 

THANKSGIVING

Y'all, this is just my favorite holiday. We tried pickleball finding, the courts were flooded. Seattle, right? What can you do? We raked leaves instead! It was pretty fun. We've gotten pretty good at raking leaves. We can get a whole yard done in such a short amount of time, it's hard to talk about it and still be so humble. We had too much food, which is the perfect amount on Thanksgiving, and got to play a card game with some members at the end of the night. 

REDECORATING IS MY PASSION

Our apartment is getting upgraded like every few days it feels like. Since finding the treadmill, our Ward Mission Leader has given us 2 guitars, an amp, and now a bunch of home workout equipment. We looked at our apartment and realized that with our current furniture layout, we wouldn't be able to fit any of the workout things. So, naturally we rearranged the while layout. It is beautiful. MTV, come check out my crib!

LAST THINGS LAST

- it is now socially acceptable to put up christmas decorations.

- shoutout to everyone who sneezed while reading this email, and BLESS YOU!

- just so you know, with it being Thanksgiving and all, I love you and I'm thankful for you!!

เอ็ลเดอร์ ซ่อมรถ (Elder car repair)

Elder Barrett

 

It's a Fitness Miracle!!

 เฮลโล Hello!

Interesting week. Sit back, grab some popcorn, make sure to eat it with only one hand so you can use the other one to scroll without getting your screen all oily, and enjoy a week in the life of Elder Barrett.

ONE MAN'S TRASH

Is another man's treasure. That man's name is me. We were coming home late one night and we saw something odd by the dumpster of our apartment. Could it be...? No, it couldn't. Unless...? It IS! A treadmill! We had to get a better look. So, we carried that bad boy inside our apartment to conduct some experiments. We moved the blanket we've been using as a rug off to the side and set down this giant piece of machinery. We plugged it in and saw it light up, for just a second. It was a literal flicker of hope. But beyond that, we couldn't get it running (pun intended). We noticed a little spot for a magnetic key. So, we looked all over the house to find a key to unlock this treasure. Nothing. When we thought all hope was lost, we decided to stop looking outward for the solution, and start looking inward. I looked down at myself and noticed the magnetic nametag that was clipped onto my chest. And in hindsight it was obvious. But it's ok, because better late than never. It's like how God showed the Jaredites how to make the barges, and then they just had one missing piece. They said well now what? And God said I was going to ask you the same question. I'm not saying that I'm the Brother of Jared. But when it comes to treadmill-related miracles, I'm pretty much the Brother of Jared. So to make a long story short, we now have a working treadmill in our apartment. Daily runs are back!

THE X IN BMX IS FOR X-TREME

Let me describe my bike to you. It's an old, hand-me-down mountain bike with two functioning gears (never stray from 4 and 6), a mud guard that drags on the front tire, and two brakes: one that barely works and another that doesn't work at all. Perfect for riding down steep, windy, busy roads, right? Well, I was going to put it to the test. We had an appointment, and we were going to be on time, come what may. We start heading down. I pick up speed as we approach the first turn. I calmly grip both brakes to try to slow my acceleration. I quickly realize that these brakes are NOT going to be helpful. I turn the corner successfully. No cars. I made a realization. When you're going fast, making sharp turns becomes less and less of an option. So when I turned a corner, I tended to fly into the middle of the road. Squeezing my brakes and digging my shoes into the road were not going to save me at this point. I'm really picking up speed now. Faster. Faster. I'm just zooming. I'm pretty sure I was time traveling at some point. As I turn the last corner, reaching maximum velocity, a car comes up on the other side of the road, as they tend to do. I fly into the middle of the road. I'm looking right into the eyes of the driver of the car. Trying to communicate through eye contact that I'm not an adrenaline junkie trying to cheat death, I'm just your average everyday idiot. I turn out of his way with a few yards to spare and I was out of the woods. I dug my feet into the pavement and I slowed myself down just enough to make the turn onto the main road and we were finally safe and on our way to our appointment. MORAL OF THE STORY: Don't be a goon, find a detour.

LAST THINGS LAST

- I was hit in the face by a stray bottle of Sunny D.

- It's time to double-sock it.

- Shoutout to my Uncle John, who was the artist of the painting on top of last week's section of Come Follow Me!

- No matter what past Calvin told you, present Calvin loves you.

เอ็ลเดอร์ จมูกช้ำ (Elder bruised nose)

Elder Barrett

 

Pickleball Masterz

 เฮลโล Hello!

What is up my good people? Its been a week, that's for sure. More work than usual, plenty of service, a little bit of pickleball, and maybe even a little bit of tracting...?? All this and more in Mr Elder The Bear's weekly email.

DESTROYED BY AN OLD LADY

We found out about an awesome pickleball court that's just outside of Benson Hill, so naturally we hopped on our bikes on the first day that didn't look like God was gonna break his promise to Noah and we booked it over. May or may not have bumped into a guy who was walking on the sidewalk and didnt hear my warning him because of his groovy tunes rocking in his headphones. But when we got there, there was already a group of like 10 retired people playing. Amazing. Two old ladies challenged us to a game. Game time. Y'know what happened? Well, anyone well versed in the dynamic of St. George should be able to guess that old people are unbelieveably good at pickleball. We got our lunch eaten. But it was awesome! We won the second game, and we got into the groove of things. Did we lose a ton of games? Oh yeah. Did we meet some awesome people and possibly some new friends? Uh huh. Was it a party? These questions are so easy. YUP!

YOU GET A BOM AND YOU GET A BOM

This week, we made a goal to get 5 return appointments using the Book of Mormon. We made it all the way to Sunday and realized that we had given out exactly 5 short of our goal. Yep. So, we decided we were gonna knock out an entire neighborhood right next to us. The rain was coming down like crazy. I was hoping that it might lead some people to have sympathy and let us in. I was wrong. We mostly got a few "kudos for doing this in the rain!... k bye." But yknow what? It doesnt matter, because we gave out 3 Book of Mormons!!!! Yesssss! And what's even better? We had a self referral for a Book of Mormon! We got to go see her and she's going through a tough time right now, so I'm sure that God is leading her right to the truth. So excited to see her some more in the future.

SERVICE? YEAH I CAN DO THAT

It's cold, y'all. Not below freezing or anything, but it's like a deep cold. Sinks right into your bones. No bueno. But it's ok, and I'll be ok. We helped one of our friends clean out her garage and fix a fence while I was trying not to have my toes freeze off through my super thin socks that are Thailand approved, but November in Washington laughs at. We also helped with some more mulch moving. Always a party.

LAST THINGS LAST

- Go cougs, but you already knew that.

- Every day is one day closer to Thanksgiving. That means members are making us lots of mashed potatoes :)

- Hey you! I love you!

เอ็ลเดอร์ พูดช้าๆ (Elder spoke slowly)

Elder Barrett

Ooo leaf blower, shock me like electric eel

 เฮลโล Hello!

Fun week! This week I got a new companion! He's Elder Prasek from Logan, UT and we're going to have a great transfer. Even better news? We're going on transfer number 4 in Benson Hill!!! Let's go!!!

BABYSITTER MAN

Who knew you would need to be good with kids to be a good missionary? Probably Jesus, and that's why he blessed them all in 3 Nephi... anyways. Being able to deal with little kids has become the theme of this last weekend. We had to spend one night distracting a member's sisters so the Sister missionaries could teach her. At church, I had to greet people coming in while also dealing with a little girl dangling from my arm. And at a member's house for dinner, we had to keep her kids happy by drawing with them and spelling their names while also having a meaningful conversation with their mom. That's right, this weekend was the best!!

LEAF RAKER ON THE ROOF

If I was a rich man, I would hire someone to watch me do this and applaud, because it is awesome. We've been helping someone out with his house. We've raked leaves, weedwhacked, mowed, ripped out carpet, raked some more, organized a woodshop, swept up pine needles, and finally, we raked some leaves. I even got to stomp the leaves down into the waste bin. It felt like I was squashing grapes to make wine, which is one of my bucket list items. Non alcoholic of course... While we were getting leaves off of their deck, we noticed a ledge that was covered in leaves. Naturally, we hopped up and raked it clear. But now that we were here, we saw the roof. Wouldn't you know it, the roof was covered in leaves!! Being the tireless servants we are, we grabbed a leaf blower and got up on there! It was a perfect plan. We even cleaned out his gutters with it. Quick note, try to only touch the handle of the leaf blower. The bottom tends to give little static shocks. But I have no regrets.

WORD OF WIZZUM IS THE SHIZZUM

We set up a day and time to teach our most progressing friend, Nicole, this week. We were going to teach her all the commandments, including the law of chastity, tithing, and the word of wisdom. We opened up the video call, and there she was, sipping a latte. Y'know when you want to tell someone something immediately, but you also wanna be polite and let them finish, even though you're positive what you have to say is more important? Yep. It actually went well and she committed to keep all the commandments! So let's go!!!

LAST THINGS LAST

- BYU football. Way to blow out Boise St. Sko Cougs.

- My spirit animal is a sloth.

- It's a little uncomfy when a member gives you zucchini bread at church... in a Starbucks bag. I'm sure some people had questions when they saw us carrying that around.

- Welcome to PeopleILovesburg. Population: YOU!

เอ็ลเดอร์ กินเหมือนกับนก (The elder eats like a bird)

Elder Barrett

The Tour de Benson

 (Pronounced Tour de BenSEAUX)

เฮลโล Hello!

What a crazy crazy week, y'all. This being the last week of the transfer, unfortunately Elder Stradling will not be with us anymore. But no need to be glum, sugarplum. I'm getting a new companion, who I will meet later today. It should be a glorious experience, at least for him. 

THE TOUR DE BENSEAUX

On Sunday, as our last day for Elder Stradling, we met with all of our favorite families from around the ward. Yep. All. We biked the entire area to meet with all these people. If that's not dedication for a great farewell tour, I don't know what is. We aren't Kobe, but then again neither was Paul Pierce so I'd say we're in good company. We biked to 10 houses (on fast sunday, so we were naturally speedier, granted) after church. With plenty of time to say hi, take a picture and reassure them that even though Elder Stradling would be leaving, I am still loyal to Benson Hill. We did get fed two dinners on our tour, a jug of orange juice, and a box of chocolates. Also, side tangent, life is not like a box of chocolates. Every single time you grab something out of one, you got chocolate. Foolishness.

GENEOLOGY I AM DOING IT

We have been trying to do a little more family history work. We were at a members house and we all decided to open the family search app and naturally find out how far you can go. I traced my way back to Adam and Eve a few times. Pretty cool, pretty cool. Thanks family members who actually put in work so I can tap on the screen for a few minutes.

GIVE THEM LEARN

We taught a few more english classes and an actual lesson with one of our friends. What happened? I'm so glad you asked. We taught the Plan of Salvation to a Buddhist monk, for one. It was probably one of the coolest moments of my mission life. Not gonna lie, if you told me I'd teach lessons to a monk on my mission, I wouldn't think you meant in Washington. Another one of our lessons, our friend had to use headphones that had the absolute worst microphone in the world. So now ive spoken English, Thai, and Robot. And finally, we got one of our friends on date for baptism! She was a referral and it was our first lesson with her, but we were both feeling it so we just shot the question! She accepted, no hesitation. It's the best.

LAST THINGS LAST

- one more transfer in Benson Hill, let's go!

- I pulled a muscle in my forearm while I was ripping out some carpet. So typing this email is a labor of love.

- hope y'all had a great Halloween! We've got more candy than we know what to do with, so please come by and partake ;)

- have you ever wondered, who does Elder Barrett love? The answer may surprise you: YOU!!

เอ็ลเดอร์ปั่นจักรยาน (Elder Cycling)

Elder Barrett

Mormons Can Be Buddhist, Too.

 เฮลโล Hello!

Welcome back to a week in the life of Elder Calvin "The Grizzly" Bear. It's getting cold in Seattle, y'all. And for some reason, there's a sign in our apartment that says not to turn the thermostat past 50°. I'm not sure if it's just a prank or if I'm gonna bankrupt the church from an outrageous heating bill. For now, I'll just wear some sweatshirts and wrap in a few blankets while I finish my personal study.

WHAT COULD BE BETTER THAN A THAI LESSON???

I know! TWO Thai lessons! Y'know how I've been teaching some english classes to Thai people in the Seattle area? Well, you'll never believe it, but we actually had two students who wanted to learn about the church! Our first lesson (which took place in a treehouse out of necessity and level of coolness), one of our students, who is one that we thought wouldn't be interested at all, asked us what's different between our church and other christian churches. What a question!! We got into the Restoration lesson and it was all in Thai! My companion was struggling to find his footing, since we havent really taught in Thai for months, but here's a miracle: I had like zero rust. It was amazing! My words were just flowing and the spirit was there and it was an amazing lesson. Unfortunately, we ran out of time to talk about it much further after we finished the Restoration. But I was just having an amazing conversation about the similarities between our religion and buddhism. It was super cool! Next time we'll talk more. I'm so excited. But we taught another lesson the next day. This one friend we had already taught to pray and she is interested in christianity. This time, we offered to take her on a church tour and she MET US AT THE TEMPLE!!! We got to take her on a tour of the temple grounds and share the Restoration again!!! It was amazing. She accepted a Book of Mormon and a Restoration pamphlet (which had Elder Stradling's notes all over it, but we promised to get her a fresh copy haha) and she is so amazing!!!!

I'm very lucky to have been blessed with the ability to learn languages. The gift of tongues is super real, y'all. This week, I had conversations about things I had never talked about totally in Thai. I was able to contribute and understand what they were saying! I talked about preparing someone for a driver's test, hiking a mountain, meditation, and made a few jokes about how missionaries aren't very rich. Even outside of Thailand, I'm getting to use Thai a little bit almost every day. That's such a big deal for me and I'm so grateful.

KNOCK KNOCK

Who's there? The missionaries from the church of Jesus Christ of latter day saints. What? Isn't it Rona season? Nah, fam. It's time for you to hear about the Book of Mormon!!! We are actually allowed to knock doors now! I was a little hesitant, I'll admit. But we had a really good experience going out one day to find some people. We found one lady who is more than happy to let us come back one day and also a family where the mom told the kids to tell us that they don't speak english haha. It's interesting, but at least I can actually feel a little bit more like a missionary now.

YOU ARE RIGHT WHERE YOU SHOULD BE

This week, at Zone Conference, it hit me that even though in the end I want to make it back to Thailand to finish out my mission, I need to be happy about where I am, what I'm doing, and what experiences I will have here! I wrote: I"'ve gotten into the habit of looking forward to the next step in my life without taking time to be happy about where I am. I need to work on being happy to be here and to be doing what I'm doing. There is nothing else in the world that I should be doing right now." Still working on it, but I'm totally happy to be here, chilling out and sharing the gospel!

LAST THINGS LAST

- how to rob a bank with your friends: step 1, buy matching hats.

- Thai is very feminine sounding compared to Lao. A man with a very large beard told me that, and he looks like he has authority on that subject.

- happy Halloween, y'all! Halloween is scary, but do you know what's scarier? That's right, that one phantom stair at the top of the staircase.

- I love you! Take it from me, I'm an expert on all things me. And me love you.

เอ็ลเดอร์ศาสนาพุทธ (Elder Buddhism)

Elder Barrett

 

Good Thai Food of Great Joy

 เฮลโล Hello!

So. What a week, y'all. It was a pretty typical week, full of service, great food, and most importantly, it's such a great time to be a missionary!!!

REVENGE OF THE SIMP

We had our first companion exchanges since I got here at the end of June. If I were to describe it in a spanish word, it would have to be picante. I got paired up with Elder Chidester, who's actually from Spanish Fork. We stayed in Benson Hill and we stayed BUSY! We helped a member's friend with some boxes of food, I shared my secret hawaiian sliders recipe (email me for info if you're worthy), taught a member while sitting on top of a litter of kittens, got a box of pizza from a member, taught an english class, and helped a family in Tiffany Park move out. It was such a party day, finally Spanish and Thai coming together as one.

IT AIN'T MUCH BUT IT'S HONEST WORK

I got to drive a tractor this week. Yes it was amazing, yes it was probably very attractive, and no there was no property damage. We spent 7 hours in one day digging piles of dirt, spreading mulch, and flattening the earth (helping out the flat-earther's case a bit, I'll admit). I got to drive a riding lawnmower, which has also been a lifelong dream of mine, and transport mulch for a few hours, which was less of a dream but I won't complain. It was tough work, and we were both so exhausted by the end of the day that we could barely walk haha. We also got to do some raking, some weed pulling, and just some more general yardwork. It's always a party.

OH WELL THATS NICE

We were invited to a member's house to watch stake conference this sunday. Mini miracle alert! They offered for us to show up in our pajamas, so naturally we accepted. This means I got to wear a big thick sweatshirt rather than my thin dress shirts. Might seem like a minor thing, but in the middle of the stake conference, their daughter puts a rabbit on my stomach. I don't mind too much, conference was honestly getting a little boring and now something new and exciting was here on me. Well, the rabbit seemed to think it was VERY new and exciting. When the little girl took the rabbit off me, there was a big dark spot where it had been, with some fun little brown pellets to garnish. Now that seems like a pretty lousy thing to have happened. BUT! Had I been wearing my missionary clothes rather than pajamas, that would've seeped right through my shirt, and onto the man beneath the clothes. But probably not quite to the nucleus. But the members had us come in our thick, warm PJs. Which means that it never got past my sweatshirt and it was an easy clean. Bless up.

LAST THINGS LAST

- I passed my one year mark this week! Radical!

- the house is too cold to get away with just one blanket on my bed now. Tubular!

- somehow, we're still getting fed Thai food on a consistent basis. Psychedelic!

-Twinkies are now a cereal!! Too legit to quit!!!!!

- you are a fantastic beast and i know where to find you. On my list of people I love. 

เอ็ลเดอร์อุจจาระกระต่าย (Elder rabbit feces)

Elder Barrett

"I need to get you and your family DUNKED!"

 เฮลโล Hello!

How much do you want God's blessings? Are you willing to work for them? Willing to take whatever comes your way trusting that your struggles and efforts will be worth it? These were the questions filling my mind while we were biking to the church building at 6 AM in the pouring rain. The answers for me? A lot, apparently, and absolutely!!!

WHYS STEVE CRYING?

Cuz his wife got dunked (on)!! Mina got baptized!!! Yes, for real!!! We had a small service at 8 AM on Saturday with just 6 people and it was so amazing. The spirit and peace and just overwhelming joy of the whole thing were the best. We've been working with them for a month or so and they are the best couple ever. They've been working together on this goal and they are so solid. The sweetest, extra most bestest people ever. They were so happy and I am so lucky to have been a part of it. The meeting itself was really small, but super personal and I couldn't stop smiling! And while her husband was giving her the gift of the Holy Ghost, his angelic phone alarm came on and it was the best. Definitely unintentional, definitely fantastic.

PRESIDENT PENDLETON PULLS NO PUNCHES

While we were planning out our week, we got the feeling that we needed to visit President Pendleton, the 97 year old former stake president who can talk to you all day and who had a birthday the day before. We called him, no answer. So we made ourselves some lunch and we got a call from the 2nd counselor who asked if we had visited him recently, because he was thinking about him a lot. So we decided that was a sign and we booked it to his house. He started talking to us about his WWII stories (Grandpa Bird, you two would get along) and about all of his super strong political opinions (Dad, you two would get along). While we were talking, he got a call from one of his friends that he's been trying to get to meet with the missionaries for so long. She said she was coming over to drop off some things for him and he said, "I want you to talk to these great young men, because I need to get you and your family dunked!!" She came and we got to meet her! She's going through a very difficult time and shared her situation with us. President Pendleton says to her, "now I'm going to say something and I dont mean to offend you..." At this point I'm thinking, "Oh shoot, he's about to spew out something super politically polarizing." But NO! He finishes, "...but I'd like for these missionaries to give you a blessing of comfort." And she accepted! The blessing was great, and she was much more open and happy afterwards. I hope she gets to see missionaries again sometime soon.

LAST THINGS LAST

- bringing my "I AM MORMON" reflective vest from Thailand was the best idea ever.

- Benson Hill BBQ Club is unstoppably delicious.

- We took away Sister Jex's ability to cheat in games by speaking Lao. Thai boiz for the win.

- Seattle rain is here. Heaven help us.

- I love you! You're a legend.

เอ็ลเดอร์หนาวจังเลย (Elder is soo cold.)

Elder Barrett

The video is me throwing a lob to a BYU commit. This is for posterity.