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