7-8-13 Fourth of July

Dear Family,

We spent the fourth of July unloading the biggest U-Haul truck you have ever seen. It took alllll day. Then we had to load some things in for them, including a washer, a dryer, and 2 refrigerators which were still full of food. We got a message that we were supposed to be in by 7 PM instead of 9, so we got to go to bed early. It was the first time in the last five months that I woke up and wasn't exhausted! It was wonderful! I didn't see or hear a single firework. 

Elder Benedict wants to work which is good. We had an interesting experience this week. On Friday we got a call saying there was a lady at Enloe (the hospital) that wanted a blessing from the missionaries. When our WML (Ward Mission Leader) picked us up we found out that the lady was in the ICU and was about 50/50 chance of survival. So I was more than a little nervous when we got there. As we met the family in the outside waiting room they told us that she wasn't going to make it. So we went in and gave her a blessing.  I said what I felt would be good. She passed away. We came back and the ZL's came over and we talked.  A few months ago, we were given a talk by President Weston by Elder Bednar "That we might not shrink". We read that and I think it helped a lot. Elder Benedict has had a rough few first weeks...

Last Monday Night we were out and some people in a car were driving by and nailed me with a water balloon. I don't know what their goal was, but I am so okay with people throwing water balloons at us when it is this hot.  

On Saturday Elder Benedict wrecked on his bike and now his derailleur is all bent and not working, so we need to get it fixed. But until then we are going to be on foot, which isn't very fun in this heat because you lose the slight breeze you get on a bike. Thanks for those towels; they are pretty sweet how they work! Haha well we can't wrap them around our necks on account of the part where we are wearing collared shirts all the time;) But somehow I am gonna try to get them to work. They are slightly too big to just carry around, so we will see. I want them to work though cuz they are sweet. Also thanks for the black light. I haven't gotten a chance to find any scorpions yet, but it is good to have the option now! Haha mostly I just have fun finding things that glow in the carpet. Kind of gross, but I guess that’s what you get after 12 years of missionaries. 

No news based on the world wide broadcast news. Turns out we think Elder Perry made that announcement a little early. We probably won't have any changes for any times soon. But someday I guess. Haha being a District Leader doesn't really put me in any position to make any changes, especially with the ZL's [Zone Leader's]  in our district. Maybe I didn't understand the question though... So far it is alright. There really isn't much of a change. Just trying to find stuff to do. 

We had the weirdest thing happen; On Friday we got a call saying someone had left a message at the church and they wanted to take the missionary lessons. So after we stopped freaking out, we called the lady and she told us that she had decided that she wanted to join the church because her daughter was a member and her grandson was leaving on a mission to South America, and that she had been praying about this and it was what she wanted to do. At that point I about passed out. We were so excited. We set up an appointment for Tuesday and were just ecstatic. Then last night we got a call from the lady and she told us that she changed her mind and wanted to stay Jewish and didn't want to meet with us...Yea it was rough. We don't know what to do. We are probably still going to stop by, hopefully she will listen to us for a minute...I was so excited something was going to happen finally, but we will see I guess. 

Oh I forgot to mention; On Thursday Brother Felix was in the Hospital with what they thought was a stroke. We found out a couple days later that it wasn't, but that it was a form of Bell's palsy. He showed up at church on Sunday regardless, sporting a sweet eye patch. From what I have heard all is well, but we didn't get a chance to talk to him because he was kind of the most popular kid at the party on Sunday. I made a Joke to Brother Holt on Saturday night that if Brother Felix wore an eye patch to church, we would ride President Paulson's tandem bike for a day. I don't think he told Brother Felix, but I hope he doesn't find out...haha I am not sure how well that would go over with President Weston... Anyways just thought I would let you know!

Thank you for all the letters. I will let you know if I think of anything I need, some more shirts would be nice, but I can't think of anything super important. Thanks for everything, I love you guys.

Michael

P.S. Sorry, we haven't had any time to take pictures yet. Soon.