June 29, 2010 - Logansport, Indiana

June 29, 2010


Alright mom there is no need to worry about the whole weather thing alright. We have no idea what the weather will be like when we go outside cause we have no way of hearing about news or anything so it’s just a guess and the mission pres. will call us if it is supposed to be a super bad storm that will cause havoc and stuff. It wasn't like last week, we were holding on to poles blowing in the wind hoping that it wouldn't drag us away haha, so just breathe mom just breathe I’m doing alright. My insulin supplies are doing good I lost a meter already the first day so we looked for it everywhere and have no idea where it went so hopefully my back up stays around for the next year until I run out of strips or whatever. I just started using another bottle of lantus so I only have 1 left in reserve and about 2 bottles I think of humalog 1 bottle of novolog. Other than that its going ok. My watch broke, I don't think it could stand me anymore, the second hand just came off, I don't know how but it just did. Don't worry, I wasn't throwing it or anything but the letters also came off on the inside it still tells time sometimes but I’m not sure what to do about it. My belts don't handle the humidity so well, they will rub off on my shirts and leave them with black marks on the back so I’m buying 1 belt today, and then you can tell me what to do about them in my next email. I’m handling the humidity way good those handkerchiefs you gave me I loaned to my comp who was in dying need of some. I don't hardly sweat at all out here unless we go running which we do at night sometimes, if we have time after planning. So it’s nice. I love the weather even though it’s been going back and forth. I’m just glad the humidity didn't really impact me as much as you thought, like I was going to be dying from it all. We don't wear suits, we wear them only if it’s below 65 degrees or at meetings, so just short sleeve shirt all week pretty much. The neighborhood where we live is pretty decent I think. I’m not sure how to describe it, but I think you would be fine to send a package. Elder Banner’s b-day was last week and he had big packages waiting for him at home. So it’s alright. We go to the library and use the computers there, and we have a hour and a half to write emails instead of just 30 minutes, so it’s pretty nice.

Well anyways I guess you want to know what’s been up the last couple of days right........Well last p-day I just wrote letters the whole time cause I was behind. It wasn't probably the best thing. We have pretty much been doing the same thing over and over again tracting, and visiting less actives. I hit my first bump this last week of the mission though, ha ha. I was doing a terrible job talking to people. Elder Banner and I would talk about it, after we just talked to someone, and I was probably the most creepy person anyone has ever talked to. If I didn’t know what to say I would just be like alright, well have a nice day, and then leave. Elder Banner was doing a pretty good job of watching me drown myself which is what he is supposed to do as a trainer. He isn't supposed to jump in, he just watches, and then after we talk about what I could've done better. So it got bad, but now I’m doing better, well, at least I think I am....pretty much that we did service at the Salvation Army just serving lunch and all. I didn't realize it but I hit a month mark already out here so I have already been a month out. Time for sure plays tricks out here. Some days feel like eternity, some days don't, and some days I'm just way super-tired. It’s weird. Hopefully my body gets used to it. I'm doing awesome on my bike riding skill. I can ride without my hands and just peddle now. Don't go into how unsafe that is mom, I know that’s your first thought, but it is fun doing it. We went to the rough part of town on Saturday and it was nuts. We were in this house talking to a guy. Kids dealing drugs came in, this guy wanted to beat his wife for cheating on him, and the TV was on, with this guy beating a grandma. We got to the TV and asked if we could turn it off cause every 3 seconds it was saying the ‘f’ word. Ha ha, it was definitely hard to tune that out. But we had a good talk to the guy we were actually trying to talk to. He has hit a hard piece in life even though he chose it. Not everyone I found out is just careless about what they do even though it seems like that’s how it is. People are really sweet and nice as long as you don’t judge them before you get to know them which is something you can't do out in the mission, or else you won’t meet anyone out here. The most of the town is pretty rough, but still a lot of sweet nice people just trying to figure things out. A lot of people respect us out here, then there are a lot of people who are just jacks to us. It’s weird, so you have to be strong ‘cause you will get everything out here. I have found a whole different view of missionaries though about work ethic and about sacrifice. Anyone who has served, or is serving a mission has my respect, ‘cause I probably haven't realized it fully, but it is a long time to be away from life. It’s weird to think but while we are out here we can say we are exactly where the Lord wants us to be. You can't say that too many times in your life so it’s amazing. Well we had a miracle happen on Sunday again... Not sure what it is about Sundays, but it’s just the day where the spirit is so strong and you can't even try not to feel it. So we go out to one of our far off towns in our area to talk to less actives, we were talking about who we should see, and we finally decide right before we get into town. We had no idea how to get to the guys house but we had a map so we finally got lost and confused so Elder Banner turns into this beat up car shop it looks like and this guy is outside of it talking on the phone. I had to get out of the car to back the car up, its just standard missionary procedure and this guy who was pretty big and muscley, comes over to talk to me while I’m watching Elder Banner back the car up. He just says "missionaries?" I’m like ya and he says he is a member. I was like no way, so I start talking to him totally forgetting about Elder Banner in the middle of the street so he just parks the car. So come to find out that the guy who we were talking with his name was Jimmy and he was the exact same guy who we were planning on seeing about 20 mins outside of town. Is it by chance that we just got lost and just turned into this mechanics shop instead of turning down another street? I don't know. Well we get talking to him and his mom is way active but she has to watch her mom because she can't be by herself at all and can't leave the house so she can't come to church. He went to church a couple of times this year but just with his mom. His 2 girls were baptized and he had a 9 year old son who he was planning on it. He owned this bike repair shop that we were at and he was making some money ha. He definitely went the wrong direction in life though. He partied and all that, just got into the wrong things we were just getting to know him, we found out that he held the mel. priesthood and has been endowed. Crazy, crazy stuff. So, after a while of talking him just talking about all this stuff Elder Banner talks about him giving a fathers blessing to his kids cause he still had that power, it never goes away and he just looked like we sucker punched him he wasn't mad but just like he saw a ghost. He just turns to us and tells us, hey you guys gotta go i need to lock up and leave which we knew wasn't true cause he told us earlier he was going to stay awhile so we were just like alright, confused, and we just left. The spirit that I felt though cannot be denied at all or by anyone that will tell me otherwise. Just the whole time talking to this random guy about no specific lesson, just getting to know him I knew that we just broke a barrier in himself that was stopping him from feeling the Holy Ghost and I knew that he felt it when we were there. The amazing feeling couldn't be denied it was just so crazy how we didn't know what to do about him kicking us out, but we didn't have a choice he told us to come back sometime and he would give us a water so we left and were just out driving. We saw another less active who was just kinda fed up with church cause of people being rude and stuff and nobody seemed to care that they didn't come at all. So even though that is not the best reason to not to come to church, Pres. Hinckley did say "one of the most important things a member needs in the church is a friend" and it’s so ridiculous how people aren’t. Even that nobody does home teaching out here and we aren't really in charge of it at all so we can't do much. Just tell people they should come back but I don't know what to tell them. Well it started getting late and we had enough time to visit one last person for a quick stop, so we happen to stop by Jimmy's mom's house where she was taking care of her mom. She sees us and just is so, so, so excited to see us and it was like she was expecting us to come. She started talking about Jimmy ‘cause he told her about our visit with him earlier, and she told us that he felt the spirit when he was around us, and that he remembered something that was so close to him but he forgot about it and everything. It was so awesome to hear that. She just starts telling us everything about her son and his life, his spiritual experiences, and everything in between. It was sweet, I couldn't stop smiling ‘cause the spirit was so strong in her voice and just how happy she was to see us. So, after about 40 mins of talking Jimmy comes up the street and he comes over just like ‘you guys are pretty persistent aren't ya’ just joking around. But since he came, we could go inside the house to see Jimmy's grandma and right when we walked inside she lit up, she couldn’t move, but if our whole day was just to see that lady it would've been a pretty successful day. She was ecstatic to see us she loved us even though both of us never have met the family at all. She was so happy, and the spirit filled the room so much that nothing could penetrate it. Everyone in the room felt it, and everyone was just smiling even when nothing was said. We couldn't stay any longer cause it was about 9 and we had to be inside at least by 9:30 so we just politely told them we had to leave. The older lady asks for a prayer by us and of course we always do it, so she asked Elder Banner and his prayer just was so inspired it was amazing. We left and started going back home just talking about the whole experience when we get a text message from Nathan the one getting baptized and he asked if Elder Banner would be in his confirmation circle. It was cool. Of course, I felt left out since I didn't get asked, but I didn't know him that well at all, just met him twice. So it was just kinda funny but he sent another text and asked me to be in his confirmation circle to. Me!?!?!? I was thinking no way we didn't tell him anything but it was so cool to be thought of and to be part of something that means so much to him. I’m not sure if it’s just the mission but I’m so grateful for the opportunity to do it. He gets baptized the 24th of July so it will be so cool to witness that. I think it’s my first one since I got baptized. But anyways, do miracles happen???? They sure do. It’s not by chance that things happen by accident, it’s by God cause everything happens for a reason and i definitely found that out on Sunday.

Well I don't know what else to say except I love you mom and dad, and also I will be sending dad his Fathers Day letter today. I’m planning on it. Don't worry, I didn't forget I’m just working on it.

I love the family. Tell Scott, Jessie and Paul to write, and I don't know Paul’s address, so I’m not sure what to do about that.

Send a picture of the family alright, I would love to have it and the house.

Love

ELDER JOHN MICHAEL MOORE