This week was really fun. I finally did my first exchange which was amazing and we went to the beach! I also learned how to make ties and made the best time ever.
On last Wednesday, I went on an exchange with Elder Terry. I probably shouldn't say this, but we stayed up until 12:30 talking and working out. It was really fun to talk to someone new and live with them for a change. I love Elder Squires, but it's nice to be with someone else for a change. We had a great day together, we had 2 amazing lessons, put someone on date to be baptized, and found 5 new investigators, and 2 return appointments from potentials. That's about as good a day as you can ask for. They also had a member in their ward drive us to the exchange from Palm Bay to Fort Pierce. It's an hour drive, he did it in 25 minutes. He has a mustang and drives 130 on the freeway. It was kind of terrifying but it was way fun. Again, I don't know if I should have said that.
We went to the beach this morning at sunrise.
Too bad it was cloudy on the horizon. It was way fun though. There was nobody there, and we could even stand in the water a little bit. We had a really good time. That was my first time seeing the Atlantic, even though I've lived within 5 miles of it for the past 5 weeks.
I also made my first tie. It was a cartoon shark tie, look at the picture of it. I wore it to both wards at church. I had probably 20 people compliment it. And kids love it. It wasn't made very well, and it will probably fall apart within a few weeks, but oh well. Today is also my first zone p day. We've been hanging out playing basketball and gator ball all day, it's been fun.
If you want to see some pictures at the beach and a funny guy with a motorcycle with a side car with a dog in the side car with big goggles on the dog in the side car, then check my google drive.
November 19
I'm not the newest missionary in the mission anymore! I'm also pretty sure I'm the youngest in the mission, but that could also change. Anyway, this will be a short email. This week we just tracted a lot and visited people.
So me and Elder Squires are staying together. We no longer have 2 wards which is amazing. There are now sisters that live in our apartment complex that are over that ward, so that'll be fun.
The one cool experience we had was on Thursday, we didn't have anything to do and no idea where to go. Elder Squires and I went to different rooms and prayed for revelation. We then sat and thought. Elder Squires had the thought to visit some part member families and less active families. I had a specific name come to me, the Bradshaws. I didn't know there was anyone by that name. I thought I might have been thinking of the Cutshaws because I know them, but I searched for Bradshaw and sure enough there was someone by that name. They were an inactive, part member family. We went and knocked the door, talked for 15 minutes and got a return appointment. We then found a few more part member families to go visit and got return appointments from all of them.
Anyway, revelation is real. If you pray sincerely for something you desperately need, and then ponder, you will get an answer. We've been guided so much the past few weeks it's crazy.That was such a huge testimony builder. I had never heard that name, and we independently had the same idea of visiting part member families and it worked. We found 3 other people to teach this week too which is cool. That's all I got for this week.
Also, it got down to 50 degrees this week. Dont you guys feel so bad for me? Its soooooo cold. Just kidding. I love the weather here, but it was funny. We went to a members house that night and had soup and hot chocolate and they were wrapped up in blankets on their couch.
**In my email to Erik, I asked if he had somewhere to go for Thanksgiving and here is his reply . . .
So yes we do have a dinner on Thanksgiving with the ward mission leader and another family named the Rasmussens. The Rasmussens have an autistic son who's 27. He's the coolest person ever. He doesn't talk but he uses a form of sign language but it's hard because he doesn't have the fine motor skills, but he can understand you just fine. He leads the music and passes the sacrament sometimes and his favorite place on the earth is the temple. He loves everything church related. Today a deacon came and asked him he'd help pass. It was the coolest thing ever to see his eyes light up and he almost ran up to the front of the chapel grinning ear to ear. We eat at their house every Monday, we're actually going over tonight.
So Thanksgiving will be fun. We have a great ward, they're actually known as one of the best wards in the mission. We are fed every night. We actually had a dinner with a family with 3 little kids that are the literal cutest things ever. One of them wants to go on a mission to Wendys.
Anyway, they made a really easy dinner that seemed like something you'd make. It's basically just chili with cornbread in a casserole. I attached the recipe, is pretty good.
So with the Elder Holland talk [I emailed him one of my favorite talks by Elder Holland called "Remember Lot's Wife"], we just listened to that 2 days ago. No joke. It is a good talk. Some other interesting talks we listened to were Why 1820 by Hyrum Smith and What Is The Blueprint Of Christ's Church by Tad Callister.
How's school going? Does Nate have a job yet? How's the weather there? It got down to 50 the other day and we were biking in short sleeves at night. Elder Squires is from Las Vegas Vegas he was cold, but I thought it felt great. I miss being cold. Here you're always wet. You get out of the shower and dry off and you're already wet. And you can't ever cool down. I'll play basketball and then usually i'll go outside to cool down, but that doesn't help here. So feeling cold for once felt really nice. Another thing, if you need a new phone wallpaper, go to the photos in the new Come, Follow Me manual on gospel library and download them. There are some juicy ones.
