This week we got transfer calls and I am staying in Mead with Elder C. for another transfer! I am Elder C.'s eleventh companion (not counting the MTC) and, except for his trainer, I am the only one he has had more than a transfer. I filled out the dates in my next planner, and this transfer I hit five months, I call home for Mothers' Day (I'll have had two phone calls before I hit six months), Preston turns three and a half, Pops turns fifty-seven, and I hit six months. Wow!
On a side note, I hope I am not exhausting my home resources. I like to withdraw money from my account and then spend it on various things. Often we go out to eat as a district and I pay with my money,1 and last week I bought a CD by a Christian artist named Michelle Tumes. I really like it but I can't listen to two of the songs because they are love songs.2 (We like to joke that they're OK because they're allegorical, just like the uninspired Song of Solomon is supposed to be--but we know we can't really listen to them.)
I'm getting ready to ship my suit off home so that should be coming soon, along with my memory cards with videos on them. You don't have to send my cards back--at least, now I don't feel like you need to--because I feel like I'm getting a hord of cards and I am going to get more and more and you'll lose all of yours.
One of the families we're teaching is a single mom, Heather, and her 15-year-old son, Matt. We're teaching them in a members' home. Last week they came to church. Heather has problems believing even that Jesus is divine so the members wanted us to do a lesson on that. This week our lesson was a testimony meeting, and we had testimonies from us, the members, Job, Peter, the brother of Jared, President Hinckley, Elder Wirthlin, Elder Hales, and Elder Holland. This week Heather said she wasn't feeling well but Matt called the members--who are almost sixty--and asked for a ride to church! It was a huge step. We think Matt could and would get baptized but it would be a while before he would get his mom's permission. With a little time, though, I think we'll get him, at least.
We also learned that a part-member family--the member is the sister of the dad of my first baptism--agreed to have the lessons in the bishop's home! And another investigator has set a date for June! And we have two other referrals we're still trying to get a hold of--one of whom is African and has a member uncle! It's exciting.
This is an interesting story that happened a while ago but I don't think I've told you yet. During my first transfer I found an area here in Mead that I had dreamt about before my mission. That was pretty interesting. But then, one of my first days with Elder C., I found another place I'd dreamt about while I was in the MTC. The main difference was that in the dream it was a mud road (and family was on the road) and here it was paved (and no family), but it's totally the same place. These places are places we don't go often and nothing significant has come out of them, but it is very interesting that there are not one but two places I've dreamt about before I've seen them. The dreams were insignificant, the real places were insignificant, but it is still very interesting.
Thanks for letting me know about how you will be sending a package. Last night I had a dream that I was waiting for a package and it didn't come until you brought it up here yourselves (I don't know why you were visiting) and it was huge. It had some of your clothes in it (I think to fill space) and I couldn't figure out why you sent Christmas candy because it wasn't even the Fourth of July. I feel guilty asking for all those things. Hopefully I won't ask for anything else for a while, since most things I request are silly and somewhat costly.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. Until next week,
Elder Melville
On a side note, I hope I am not exhausting my home resources. I like to withdraw money from my account and then spend it on various things. Often we go out to eat as a district and I pay with my money,1 and last week I bought a CD by a Christian artist named Michelle Tumes. I really like it but I can't listen to two of the songs because they are love songs.2 (We like to joke that they're OK because they're allegorical, just like the uninspired Song of Solomon is supposed to be--but we know we can't really listen to them.)
I'm getting ready to ship my suit off home so that should be coming soon, along with my memory cards with videos on them. You don't have to send my cards back--at least, now I don't feel like you need to--because I feel like I'm getting a hord of cards and I am going to get more and more and you'll lose all of yours.
One of the families we're teaching is a single mom, Heather, and her 15-year-old son, Matt. We're teaching them in a members' home. Last week they came to church. Heather has problems believing even that Jesus is divine so the members wanted us to do a lesson on that. This week our lesson was a testimony meeting, and we had testimonies from us, the members, Job, Peter, the brother of Jared, President Hinckley, Elder Wirthlin, Elder Hales, and Elder Holland. This week Heather said she wasn't feeling well but Matt called the members--who are almost sixty--and asked for a ride to church! It was a huge step. We think Matt could and would get baptized but it would be a while before he would get his mom's permission. With a little time, though, I think we'll get him, at least.
We also learned that a part-member family--the member is the sister of the dad of my first baptism--agreed to have the lessons in the bishop's home! And another investigator has set a date for June! And we have two other referrals we're still trying to get a hold of--one of whom is African and has a member uncle! It's exciting.
This is an interesting story that happened a while ago but I don't think I've told you yet. During my first transfer I found an area here in Mead that I had dreamt about before my mission. That was pretty interesting. But then, one of my first days with Elder C., I found another place I'd dreamt about while I was in the MTC. The main difference was that in the dream it was a mud road (and family was on the road) and here it was paved (and no family), but it's totally the same place. These places are places we don't go often and nothing significant has come out of them, but it is very interesting that there are not one but two places I've dreamt about before I've seen them. The dreams were insignificant, the real places were insignificant, but it is still very interesting.
Thanks for letting me know about how you will be sending a package. Last night I had a dream that I was waiting for a package and it didn't come until you brought it up here yourselves (I don't know why you were visiting) and it was huge. It had some of your clothes in it (I think to fill space) and I couldn't figure out why you sent Christmas candy because it wasn't even the Fourth of July. I feel guilty asking for all those things. Hopefully I won't ask for anything else for a while, since most things I request are silly and somewhat costly.
Well, that's all I can think of for now. Until next week,
Elder Melville
1I
think my mom erroneously thought this meant that I paid for everyone
else’s lunch. Nope. I just paid for my own.
2This
album was The Very Best of Michelle Tumes.
She’s like Enya. I actually learned after my mission that one of
the songs, “Please Come Back,” was actually about the Prodigal
Son from the father’s perspective, so it was totally mission
appropriate. It wouldn’t surprise me if the other one, “Do Ya,”
also had some Christian meaning.
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