Hot Week

Aug 3, 2015

Dear Family,

Well Hi! This week was another good week! There's no such thing as a bad week. I might have a day or two that's rough but I can't say I've had a day where I haven't learned or improved in something. Therefore, everyday is a good day because every day I learn and improve regardless of success. 

I had a couple interesting experiences this week. One of them was completely stupid on our part and the other was quite unexpected. I'll start with the stupid one. The day was Wednesday. We decided to park at the church, walk up to a neighborhood (about 15 minutes walking distance), tract for an hour and walk back at to the church. We did just that. The whole process took over 1.5 hours. And during the entire time it was 99 degrees with 80% humidity. It sucked. We almost died. Especially on the walk back. But during the walk back, some guys in a truck stopped and offered some capri-suns. We accepted and were able to get back to the church without dying from heat exhaustion. We're never doing that again.

Here's the unexpected experience. One Saturday morning Elder Shelley and I decided to tract out a road that was near where a less active lives. About half way down the road we knocked on a house and a lady answers. She said she wanted us to come back later because her husband wasn't home. I thought that was a bit of a strange but I didn't think a whole lot about it. I just noted in the iPad to check back on that house later that day. When we got to the end of the street I realized that the street we were tracting was the same street Elder Lynch and I tracted partially on my first day in the field. I didn't recognize it immediately because Elder Shelley and I started on the opposite end of where Elder Lynch and I started on and it was at a different time of day. So later, towards the end of the day, we head back to that house with the lady to see if her husband was home. What happened next was completely unexpected. We knocked on the door and a guy answers. He looks at us and says "I wish you guys came by earlier. Can we set up an appointment?" Right off I said, "Sure! What time works the best for you?" In my head I'm thinking "Who is this asking US for an appointment?" He starts talking about when we can see him and we set a time for about a week away. We asked him if he's met with missionaries before and he said "Oh yeah. I love having you guys over. I've never met a Mormon missionary who wasn't nice. I always love talking with you guys. I don't agree with everything you teach but I still like talking with you." I was thinking "Well, This is interesting. He loves Mormons but doesn't agree with everything we teach." And then out of the blue, he says "If we made dinner for our appointment would that be okay?" At this point I'm thinking "You want to feed us too? Who are you?" We said "Sure! That would be very kind of you." He then starts asking about what we like to eat and don't like to eat. He even started asking about the Word of Wisdom so he could help us keep that standard. After we set up that appointment we parted ways. I still can't believe that happened. I've never had anyone ask for an appointment. I always have to ask for the appointment. And the way he was acting towards us, he was practically begging to have us over. He really wants to talk with us. He even said he would put the appointment on his calendar so he doesn't forget. Who does that besides us? I'm still kinda blown away by the whole interaction. We meet with him next Monday on the 10th so it'll be a couple weeks before you hear about it. 

According to the New Oxford American Dictionary the proper term for people who live in Indiana is "Hoosier". No one knows what a "Hoosier" is. It's just something "a native or inhabitant of Indiana" is called. :) I've always liked thunderstorms. A few weeks ago we were getting them every day. They kinda suck for missionary work though. No one's outside to be contacted in a thunderstorm. 

I've said some pretty stupid things out here in the field. Most of the stupid things I've said are to people who want to Bible bash. It's unfortunate when you find someone who just wants to contend with you. Contention is of the devil and it really screws things up. When people want to bash I try to stand my ground but I can't help feeling the contention coming off that person. When someone throws contention at you, all you can do is testify of the truths you know. The spirit of contention is basically the devil's version of the Holy Ghost. You always hear "contention drives the Spirit away" and that's because they're exact opposites. Darkness cannot dwell where light is and vice versa. When someone is causing you to feel contention you lose sight of how God feels about them. 

I hope you have fun in Yellowstone. Please send pictures. Don't die. Thank you for your wisdom. Keep being awesome!.

-Elder Ben

PS - This cat has an interesting story behind it. One morning, Elder Shelley and I went to try a potential to see if they were home. They weren't. This cat was sitting on their porch. When no one answered the door we turned around and started walking home. After about 5 minutes of walking this cat comes running between our legs. We thought it was the potential's cat but I guess it wasn't because it wouldn't stop following us. We didn't know what to do with it so we kept walking. We hoped that it would turn around and leave us alone at some point. But it wouldn't stop. It got to a point where Elder Shelley picked it up and tried to walk it back to the potential's house but it started scratching and biting him. He put it down and left it alone. After roughly a half mile of walking it finally stopped following us. We haven't seen it since.

The best fruit soda EVER! It's better than Orange Crush which is saying something.

At Emery's... everything here is amazing!

Weekly Planning-
When you're sitting down for 2-3 hours talking about the people you're seeing,
it's fun just to take a little break and take random selfies.

#Missionary #Busy

Elder Shelley laying down near the back door of the church... a long day.

I was shocked when I saw this thing. The owners said they didn't really like them a whole lot.
I think it's hilarious they went and made ring toys out of them. 

#DeskToy #NoWorkGettingDoneNow #Play #Toy #MissionaryLife #StarWars #StormTrooper #BestThingIEverDid

I think they're trying to tell me something...
 I keep all of the letters and notes that get sent to me and on all 3 of the notes
 I've gotten so far there are these stick figures on them.

The investigator who owns the Storm Trooper armor came up to Corydon for some role play exercises.
The Corydon Hermana's are teaching the Storm Trooper about the gospel.

We made the stupid decision to tract on Tuesday from 3-4. It was 99 degrees with a ton of humidity.
We were dying. One of our investigators took pity on us and gave us some cokes.
There were also some random guys in a truck who stopped and offered us some capri-suns.