[1]Wednesday
is Pops's birthday, and Thursday I hit the dreaded eighteen-month mark. I've
been having all sorts of depressing dreams about going home lately.
Next week we will be having a baptism in the singles branch. Her mom's not too keen on it, so yesterday Kim (that's the investigator) asked us to go talk with her mom, so we're going to go over tonight.[2] Hopefully that will go well.
Another investigator who was supposed to be baptized in June dropped us. We don't know if she talked to her parents and they strongly opposed, or if she was just too scared to talk with them. Her dad is against the Church because when he was in Boy Scouts he blew up some flower holders on the church grounds and they kicked him out of Scouts. We visit his bedridden mother often and their whole family is very nice, just not active and some of them against the Church.
Also, we cover Lapwai, an Indian reservation. The Indians are on the war path (as everyone says) because of a recent event. A couple of the natives were being chased by a state patrolman and would not pull over. Eventually they stopped and he shot them. Here's where some details become conflicting. One version said they were running away; another said they were approaching him to fight. Supposedly he heard a gun shot and thought they had guns, but it was another, unrelated shot nearby. This all happened on tribal lands so the injuns are all up in arms. I guess the FBI has to investigate because state policeman don't have authority over the Indians. I guess if a policeman not of the tribe pulls over a Lamanite (I couldn't resist) he can't arrest them or give them a ticket; he can only tell them to wait until an Indian officer comes, and if they drive off, there's nothing he can do. But it does go the other way; if an Indian pulls someone over, he has to call someone who is a regular officer.[3]
It got decently warm this week. I'm starting to acquire a "bring it on" attitude for heat, because I know it's only going to get warmer and there's nothing I can do about it. They say it gets about 110 degrees in the summer here.
This week we had an interesting service experience. It probably wasn't the most kosher and if it hadn't been established earlier I probably would have not done it.[4] A member took us to several cemeteries out of our area to put flowers on the stones of his relatives. They weren't members, but they recently had their temple work done, so we dedicated the graves. It was fun being in the cemeteries. I wouldn't mind working in one.
I don't know why he didn't dedicate them; he's an elder, but he is kind of a questionable member, so maybe he's not worthy. He's engaged and his fiancée lives with him. We don't know if anything's going on but they still shouldn't live in the same house. They have both been married several times. He is weird, but she is weirder. Her nickname is Elf (she's short), but I only think of another one-syllable name ending in f--waif. The reason for this comes because we were talking with another member who was saying she thinks he's marrying her because she's a waif--no one else wants her. It will be funny when they're married and she's his wife the waif. It could be funny if I accidentally let slip something like, "How's your waif--I mean, wife?" In one of the cemeteries he has a plot and his waif was talking about being buried there, but Elder LaPratt and I both agree she won't be buried there. We've heard he's already been married eight times.[5]
Yes, north Idaho is an interesting place. Lots of members talk about guns and sometimes show them to us. I feel sick when I handle a gun.
Our landlord has a stupid blue heeler who barks at us all the time. He's on a big line in the backyard, and he runs around until he wraps himself around a pole. If you leave him alone he barks and whines. If you release him he gets excited and pees on you. Our neighbor is a member and he wants to shoot him. I wouldn't mind that.
I can't think of anything else I want to add. I could add more but I don't know how much time I have.
Love,
Elder Melville
Next week we will be having a baptism in the singles branch. Her mom's not too keen on it, so yesterday Kim (that's the investigator) asked us to go talk with her mom, so we're going to go over tonight.[2] Hopefully that will go well.
Another investigator who was supposed to be baptized in June dropped us. We don't know if she talked to her parents and they strongly opposed, or if she was just too scared to talk with them. Her dad is against the Church because when he was in Boy Scouts he blew up some flower holders on the church grounds and they kicked him out of Scouts. We visit his bedridden mother often and their whole family is very nice, just not active and some of them against the Church.
Also, we cover Lapwai, an Indian reservation. The Indians are on the war path (as everyone says) because of a recent event. A couple of the natives were being chased by a state patrolman and would not pull over. Eventually they stopped and he shot them. Here's where some details become conflicting. One version said they were running away; another said they were approaching him to fight. Supposedly he heard a gun shot and thought they had guns, but it was another, unrelated shot nearby. This all happened on tribal lands so the injuns are all up in arms. I guess the FBI has to investigate because state policeman don't have authority over the Indians. I guess if a policeman not of the tribe pulls over a Lamanite (I couldn't resist) he can't arrest them or give them a ticket; he can only tell them to wait until an Indian officer comes, and if they drive off, there's nothing he can do. But it does go the other way; if an Indian pulls someone over, he has to call someone who is a regular officer.[3]
It got decently warm this week. I'm starting to acquire a "bring it on" attitude for heat, because I know it's only going to get warmer and there's nothing I can do about it. They say it gets about 110 degrees in the summer here.
This week we had an interesting service experience. It probably wasn't the most kosher and if it hadn't been established earlier I probably would have not done it.[4] A member took us to several cemeteries out of our area to put flowers on the stones of his relatives. They weren't members, but they recently had their temple work done, so we dedicated the graves. It was fun being in the cemeteries. I wouldn't mind working in one.
I don't know why he didn't dedicate them; he's an elder, but he is kind of a questionable member, so maybe he's not worthy. He's engaged and his fiancée lives with him. We don't know if anything's going on but they still shouldn't live in the same house. They have both been married several times. He is weird, but she is weirder. Her nickname is Elf (she's short), but I only think of another one-syllable name ending in f--waif. The reason for this comes because we were talking with another member who was saying she thinks he's marrying her because she's a waif--no one else wants her. It will be funny when they're married and she's his wife the waif. It could be funny if I accidentally let slip something like, "How's your waif--I mean, wife?" In one of the cemeteries he has a plot and his waif was talking about being buried there, but Elder LaPratt and I both agree she won't be buried there. We've heard he's already been married eight times.[5]
Yes, north Idaho is an interesting place. Lots of members talk about guns and sometimes show them to us. I feel sick when I handle a gun.
Our landlord has a stupid blue heeler who barks at us all the time. He's on a big line in the backyard, and he runs around until he wraps himself around a pole. If you leave him alone he barks and whines. If you release him he gets excited and pees on you. Our neighbor is a member and he wants to shoot him. I wouldn't mind that.
I can't think of anything else I want to add. I could add more but I don't know how much time I have.
Love,
Elder Melville
[1] My
post title shows my interest in archaic spellings.
[2] We
didn’t go over there, but I don’t remember why not.
[3] Not
all of my language here is politically correct. I just found this
old article about it.
[4] My
companion was also a difficult person, so it might not have gone well to try to get out of it..
[5]
They didn’t get married.
