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11/27/08
Well, today is Thanksgiving….I know, you have been wondering what I’m doing today…so, I’m going to tell you. I’m going to start with last night. Sister Egan and I visited some people and found out that they weren’t going to be having a Thanksgiving meal because they couldn’t afford it. So we went to the store, picked up a few things and went home and started cooking. We made Mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, rolls, and pie….they had a turkey already….then this morning we delivered it! They were so happy! We dropped stuff off for one of our less-active part-member families and one of our investigators too. It was awesome.
On Tuesday we drove to Bullhead, about 45 minutes away, to have our interviews and training. I love being able to spend time with the Christensen’s. They are incredible. President Christensen started to cry in my interview. He was telling me how much he appreciated my hard work and my easy/smooth transition to mission life and he started to cry! In my head I was like, “Oh man, what do I do? Do I give him a tissue? Oh shoot…my bag is in the other room…um…I guess I just smile and say Thanks. “ Random, I know but I was touched that he is so happy with me.
So, also on Tuesday, we went over to Shannon’s house so that the Elders could give her a blessing. She is getting baptized on the 6th, and she has to be smoke free by the 29th. The Elders gave her a beautiful blessing. I even started to tear up. When they finished, Shannon looked over at us, smiled and said, “this is weird, does everyone get this really warm feeling when they get a blessing?” We told her that was the Holy Ghost. She has pretty much kicked the habit, and she will be ready for baptism on the 6th.
Ok, so Tuesday was really quite the eventful day I guess. I also on Tuesday had my first “scary missionary story meal”. Oh my goodness folks, lets just say YIKES! All day we had been fretting this meal. It was with one of our recent converts whom we had helped clean their house several times. I’ve never seen a place get so messy so fast. Anyway, we knew the condition of her kitchen and we knew what kind of cook she was. Remember how Devin would cook his eggs in bacon fat, grease stuff? Yeah, this person does the same thing too. Her kitchen is always disgusting, and her food looked and smelled terrible all the time. So, all day we were thinking of things we could do because this was a meal we knew we couldn’t get out of. We were going to buy sanitizing wipes, and trash bags to put the food in. ha ha! However, we ran out of time. When we got to the house you could smell something burning. We went in and she was making something that I think was supposed to be Chili, and it was everywhere! Hence the burning smell. She said that it had been cooking for 7 ½ hours and it only needed 30 more minutes. Well, that was at 7:30. At 8:00pm it still needed 30 more minutes, and then at 8:30 it needed 30 more minutes. She finally put some of it into the microwave at 8:45pm and set it to cook for 45 minutes!
Finally at 9:00pm she decided that it was done enough. She pulled out huge plate sized bowls, puts rice in the bottom and this chili stuff on top. Holy Crumbs, who could ever eat that much? Before she came to the table, I said a little prayer asking Heavenly Father to help me eat that food and not get sick. We began to eat. I took a bite…oh my…I have no idea what I had just put into my body, but let me tell you, I will be perfectly content with life if I never have to put it into my mouth again! The beans were still a little hard, and I don’t think that the meat was all the way cooked. I decided to skip the chewing process all together and just go straight to swallowing. I got about half way through before I decided I would probably die if I kept going. By that point I felt like crying. I kept looking at Sister Egan and I think she wanted to cry too. We told the person that we were full and asked if we could put our leftovers in a container to take home. She was ok with that, thank goodness. Then se proceeded to bring out the dessert….a half eaten cake that her husband had gotten into. She gave each of us a piece about the size of your average wallet. I took a big breath and want for it. One chew was plenty for me….egg shells!. To the swallowing technique it was again! I finished that piece of cake and part of Sister Egan’s after she looked at me with a pleading face. When I finished I had never been happier with myself. Victory was mine!!
Well, we got out of her house at 9:31pm. Yes, my friends, we are supposed to be home no later than 9:30pm. We took our 15 minutes drive home, then I ran to the bathroom and threw everything up. It was glorious! Tys, are you excited to serve now? Ha ha. Actually, that was the only nasty meal that I’ve had, so it’s not too horrible. Really though, I love that person, and she has one of the biggest hearts I have ever seen. And hey, now I have a crazy meal story to tell!
Well…that is just about all of the big news. It has been raining the past two days. I love the rain! Don’t worry, I took pictures of it for proof. I sure hope you are all doing well. I love you so much and pray for you every day. I hope you all remember this time of year and what it is all about.
1 comment:
love these letters!
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