Saturday, July 4, 2009

06/24/2009 letter

its been another week in the life of a missionary. this whole typing thing is getting a little bit easier since i can almost not look at the keyboard anymore. i am now located in locust fork and am currently serving with elder russell. we raced the lawnmowers last wednesday and to my dissappointment i lost but it was all good. i think i still smell like smoke from that thing. thursday morning we got up at four thirty and proceeded on our way to birmingham leaving behing the home we had known for six weeks desolate and empty. we hope that the people we were working with continues to have a prompting from the spirit of the truthfulness of the church and the standards we are to live up to. the drive was long and quiet as we contemplated our new areas and the mystery of the companions we were going to be with for the next part of our lives. we arrived at base and began to unload our stuff and say our hellos to our fellow moissionaries that had been working so hard in the mission field to bring those lost sheep that are wandering in the wilderness back into the warmth of our saviors loving arms. i pondered for a moment recognizing two familiar faces starigng at me piercing me to the very soul with those longing for home eyes. i went and greeted my two home town friends and tole them that this was a good place and that they were going to enjoy it then parted ways from them wondering how well they would do. i finally met up with my copmpanion after being swithched up with a few companions and finding my self on the way to locust fork. we stepped into the quiet warm apartment. with my first breath i took in the smell of cigarettes that quenched the air because of the warm day. the apartment was homely but messy with a few of the last missionaries things still lying around there. this was no surprise since most of the misiionaries forget or leave stuff in almost every area. i lost no time getting my stuff together and putting it away getting ready for the rest of the day while wondering if the people would be warm towards me. we received several shallow hellos as we traveled around doing our business. the spiritual thoughts that we hand out only seem to bring joy half of the time but with that joy i know they have gives me that feeling of success that every elder looks forward to. we work our way into one of our antique shops and find ourselves looking at an old skinny man with a bright smile welcoming us and telling us to go and get a free ice cream. the smile on my face could not have been any bigger as i took my time enjoying the ice cream the store owner had so generously awarded to us for walking around in the heat of the day. as we fellowshipped there with a few of trhe people that worked there on of there husbands came in. he was a large man wearing sweat pants and a really large shirt as if it were a dress. he talked with him and he exclaimned how he ahd been in the woods all day taking pictures of some people. iwas a little confused. he later explained that he was a private investigator. i didnt ask him what happened if he got caught because i knew there was no way that he could run from anybody but he was a nice fellow. we then proceeded to a less active partmember family. when we pulled up there was surprise in his eyes as he threw his cigarrette to the ground. there was a little shame in his eyes as we greeted him. soon after he warmed up after he realized that we seen him as a child of god and would not condem him for such things. he invited us in and we fellow shipped with the kids and the woman that he had there with him. as russell played a card game with him (hes kind of a geek) i taught the importance of having a prophet and the book of mormon and how without those things we would be just the same as any of the other churches. they didnt come to church but we made a difference that day. we even as just members of the church have a responsibility to the ones that have fallen away hence the home and visiting teaching program that we have. we must hold strong to our callings in the church or be held accountible for the peopkle we did not lift up with the spirit that has been so abundantly portrayed in our lives. we concluded the day by shopping walking past the dirtwheels magazine to see the front cover lol and then doing our nightly planning then going to bed. friday we woke up did some weekly planning then proceeded to one of our investigators houses. i was semi hungry since we left right at lunch and did not eat anything. my comp didnt say anything so i figured we were going to eat at whereever we were going. we arrived in our service clothes ready to work. my comp not saying anything to me grabs the weed eater and starts weed eating. i look around what to do since the lady wasnt even there? after a while she showed uo and asked me to take the shovel and level out the furrows so she could drive over them with her lawnmower. i took the shovel with all my might taking one mighty blow into the dirt only to have it bounce off and hardly make a dent. i looked up at the rest of the garden i was to do. i thought to myself that there is no way that i will get this done all today. i continued with the shovel wipng the sweat from my eyes from time to tim as i moved from row to rom. finally i was halfway done again thinking to myself there was no way i could finish this project as my stomache started to growl. the blisters on my hand were starting to swell my hands being soft from the riggors of missionary life. the longer i threw the shovel the more of them were starting to appear then pop leaving a painful grip with every blow with the shovel. i finished and i looked over and dinner was ready. being weak from hunger i made my way to the table giving thanks to my heavenly father for the blessing of food i had received after a good long hard days work. saturday we cruised up to birmingham to have a meeting with elder gonzalez with the quorum of the seventy. it was good. it could have been better but i had forgotten my suit coat and had to borrow one from one of the missionaries we had picked up on the way there. it was a different color than my pants and like three sizes too big. i sat with uneasiness through mnost of the meetingwondering if anyone had notice kicking my self for not bringing my suit. no one said nothing. i was able to see my trainer who warmly hugged ma and was glad to see that i was soing well. sunday i had to give a talk. the branch president who the first time i had met was shaving a goat had asked me to speak since one of the speakers wasnt going to be there that day. i accepted and nervously went up to give my talk to a crowd of strangers. i did fairly well and even incorporated dumont into my talk and to me anything with dumont in it is good. that night we stopped by one of our investigators. and as we were talking to them they told us that they had not had power for nine days since there bill was outrageous and could not pay it. it was sad. we sat on the back as they cooked there dinner on a grill talking about different things trying to keep the spirits high. the night was beautiful and peaceful. fireflys roaed the air lighting up every few feet. we set up a return appointment with them to fix the lawn mower so they could cut the grass. monday we started out the morning by going and doing service when we arrived there we moved some things and prepareed to paint a room. seeing that the job was not big enough for 4 people i looked outside seeing that the grass was almost a foot high i asked if i could mow the lawn for him. he told me that i could if i could fix the lawnmower. faster than superman himself i was outside and had that thing on its back end analyzing what the problem was. i soon found that one of the belts had slipped off. with a little persuasion and a hammer..... that thing was back into commision. my comp said he had never seen anyone with such a grinmowing grass...? closest thing i got to a fourwheeler lol. tuesday we did some more service. we do that alot here haha. i tried to teach the lady after we were finished. so i asked her what she knew about the mormon religion as a conversation starter. she went off to some wild and random tangent about the bible and then went into her childhood and some things that had happened to her.............i concluded that she wasnt teachable unless she asked the questions lol. this morning i took a good nap and it was very nice lol love you all have a happy and blessed day.

elder pulsipher

billy's letter 7/1/2009

i decided i would start posting billy's letters, he is so poetic. you'll have to figure out for yourself when to start and stop.

wednesday evening. the young men slowly poured into the church around 6:30 that evening. they were anxious to get the wednesday night activity. i stepped outside into the hot and muggy air stepping out of the sub zero temperatures that had caused me to step outside and warm my hands. the young men asked me as i finished up my last letter if i had wanted to play some soccer with them. as you all know i was no soccer star but knew how to play none the less. i no sooner had started to play that i realized that no one here had ever played soccer before atleast not an intense one with screaming mexicans! i easily every time i went down the field scored a goal setting our lead at eight to nothing. the refreshments afterwards would have had to of been the best part about the whole deal since they had krispy cream donuts and a liberal amont of donuts. the cool milk felt good as i felt it cool my innards from the humidity that had so stubbornly held it in. thursday morning. i heard the beeps of my six thirty alarm on my watch quietly beckoning me to get up and get going. i walk by the fan and flipped it off giving it relief from its all night adventure of keeping me cool enough to sleep. the light hurt my eyes as i stumbled down the hallway to the living room to start my daily exercises. the six pack i had been working for the whole time i had been out seemed so far away as i continued to do my ab wheel. i thought about the doughnuts i had had the night before and how they were like satan trying to take me away from my goal of happiness and eternal life. the doughnuts though too were keeping me away from being conceided so six and one half does the other right? my companion lay there on the couch not having slept in his bed the whole time i had been there. his mouth was wide open with a snore coming out every once in a while. he had told me it was too hot to sleep in the back. i suppose if it werent for my circumstances throughout my childhodd i would probly not be able to sleep in the heat like that. haha the feud of the ac and heat still lives on today as madre and padre still argue over whether the ac should be on or off. breakfast as usual was bland as i poured a little sugar into my oatmeal. the warm cereal seemed to do the opposite of the milk that i had had the night before as it seemed to just feel a void rather than a sensation. at eight i proceeded to go about my studies reading in the gospel of john. my heart burned inside me as i feel the story come to life blending everything i had heard in my life to paint a picture of what was going on in the words i was reading. my comp was just now stirring. he rolled over on the couch flipped on the light and began to read temples and cosmos bu hugh nibley. the book was off the plan but i said nothing since i came on my mission to work not to baby sit. if i had wanted to do that i would have stayed home with justin and dakota. after studies we planned. i flipped open the area book which is like a missionaries brain since it has down everything the missionaries in the past had done. every time i open it i shake my head looking at the last entries made. feb. 12 2009. the book was so underupdated. every time i would ask my companion who someone was he would do the jacob shrug stating that he had no idea. it was almost like being flushed again. im starting to figure out why i was brought here as senior companion. i feel thought that the president has way more confidence in me than he should being as im still the same kid who would shrug his shoulders stating the reason i hadnt done something like i forgot or i dont remember somewhere along those lines. that evening we went into hayden to do some stop bys. i really dont like stop bys since really all you are doing is bothering someone at the most inconvenient time when you could have called and set something up with them. it was not all lost though as we stopped by an old ladys house who had been seeing the missionaries for quite a while. she smiled and invited us in and we sang some songs for her and taught her a second lesson going over what our heavenly father has in store for us after we die. the house wa hot and she too had a fan that seemed to skip a beat everyonce in a while getting tired of getting no comfort and giving comfort to everyone who will stand in its path. if only that fan ere eternal like christ then it would be joy ful for the soul it was able to give rest from the heat of the day instead of eventually wearing out never to work again. chrsists love will never cease. we sang a couple more songs then proceeded on our way. as we were driving down the road there was a couple of i would say thirteen year olds stuck a maybe ten percent grade tring to get his fourwheeler to go up it but being in experienced with the clutch would kill it everytime. we stopped and i proceeded to tell him to get off and that i would turn it around for him. my comp said both their mouths dropped as they seen me immediately get it going and turned around wearing my white shirt and tie. they thanked me and were on there way. on the way home after unsuccessful stop byes. we stopped at a fruit stand. as i bargained with the owner i came away with some peaches and a yellow meat watermelon. friday morning we went down to the nursing home to sing some songs and watch the other side of heaven. as we fiddled around with the dvd player we found that the movie was not going to play. it would skip leaving the screen to what looked like utter destruction. we gave up and proceeded to talk with the manager of the nursing home. she has been reading the book of mormon. she calls it her mormon bible. she has not been to church in a good while since she can tleave the nursing home which looked more like a house. it was a cozy place and the people were friendly. a couple of them everytime we come ask who we are and introduce themselves again. i think of grandma everytime we go in there. saturday was a good day. long story shory since i have a short attention span i ended up talking to a guy in a card shop for over three hours. i explained and answered every question that he had. it was funny to think of the look on his face everytime he had a question that would totally stump me but as i flipped to my quad where we had the answer in scripture he wpuld blow that off and think of something else instead of seeing the truth that was so plainly layed before him. but as we see in the bible it is not miracles or a knowledge that converts people it is the testimony that they receive from the holy ghost. may he read the book of mormon i gave hima nd find that testimony he is so hungrily looking for. sunday was the same as every sunday except during gospel principles i was called out to teach the young men. i had absolutely nothing to start out with and using the theme of fathers day i built upon that always looking at my goal of seeing these young missionaries learn something that will be of value for the rest of their lives. i started off by having them tell me something that they had learned from there father and each one gave a pretty good description of something good they had learned from there dads. i smiled as it came to be my turn to tell about my father. i felt special having about a million childhood memories to share with them about all the things i had learned from my father. i proceeded to tell them about rhe last bale dad had baled up. he may have pounded on the steeriong wheel as he had to turn aroun and bale up the last bale agian but i figured i had learned patience and perseverance from that moment he had with the bailer. that night we had dinner with some less actives and some non members. it was quite the shin dig. i chowed down on some ribs and a pepsi enjoying missionary life thinking to my self that this is way better than college. i get three good meals a day lol!! monday we went over to michael kings house. as we were talking to him he told us how his ac was out and he couldnt afford another one. we then realized that we had an extra one in the house. it was originally going to be for the back room so i wouldnt have to sleep in the heat but we figgered it was better that they atleast had something to cool the house down. he was quite the story teller after we had gotten the ac in we were relaxing.in the suttle breeze of the little ac that could. he told us about a shark fisherman that had went and gotten from all the animals shelters the little kittens to use for bait. well that year he won the competition for the largest shark. the animal shelters also sent him a plaque for being such a good citizen for adopting all those kittens.......so he hung that under is shark award lol!!! tuesday we went to church of god where for the first time we heard singing in tongues. we were there for three hours i sware it was even more boring than our church i liked of died!!! or got up and started preaching in my own tongues or in other words the hardy would have come out of me hahaha thats pretty much it for the week keep in touch

elder p