I've already been out more than 3 months! Can you even believe it? At some points it feels like this is going to be the longest 2 years of my life, but then I look back and see that it's already going by so fast!
Fourth of July weekend felt exactly the same as every other week haha! The work never stops for missionaries but it's wonderful! We did sing all the patriotic songs in the hymn book that day though. :) I guess I should start at the beginning of the week.
Monday I made Massaman curry and it was pretty good! Not quite as good as yours-any special ingredients or better ways to cook it?? I think I need to add peppers and not quite as much sugar. Anyway, that was still delicious! Tuesday we had a Meet the President meeting which was awesome! President and Sister Hanks are actually from Salt Lake and live in Holladay right now! I asked if they knew Grandma and Grandpa but they didn't. They went to East High so you probably don't know them. But I really like him-he is going to be a great president. He's really funny but still caring and basically the polar opposite of President Holzapfel. But change is always good-we need change in the church or it would fall apart! I saw Sister Carlson and Sister Edwards at the meeting and I loved talking to them! They are doing great. Sister Carlson is in Hoover, the richest part of Alabama and Sister Edwards is in Bessemer, one of the most ghetto parts of Alabama. And I'm in hick town haha!
Alright, I'm done with the day by day thing. Read my journal when I get home ;) I'll just hit the highlights.
Fourth of July was plain weird. I was expecting 100 degree weather with 98% humidity-I mean, it is the fourth of July, right? Nope. It was cold and rainy. What? 4th of July has always been ingrained in my mind as the hottest holiday with miserable heat while watching the parade but I guess the South does it differently. This entire week it hasn't been more than 80 degrees with a lot of rain. It started last Monday and still hasn't let up. I mean, I'm not complaining, but it's just weird! We've been riding our bike quite a bit lately and it's been so nice without the burning sun! It's still humid, but humidity really isn't bad as long as the sun doesn't come out. A bunch of people wanted to go down to Florida for the holiday and enjoy the sun, but it rained down there too! It's just been an odd week weather wise. On the fourth, not many people really wanted to talk to us because they were celebrating. But it was still fun to ride around and see the fireworks even if no one would talk to us. If only it was like Utah here! There was no parade, no festival, no huge firework show, no huge show, really not much of anything. I mean, I guess this is kind of a small town, but Utahns definitely seem to have more Patriotism. Which brings me to my next point. I miss Utah! I thought I was going to love living away from it but living here makes me realize, I don't want to live anywhere but Utah. I would never live in Alabama for various reasons and I guess I haven't tried other places, but I just really like Utah. There's too many trees here, not enough mountains, and everyone is way too spread out. Part of that is living in a small town, but I just like Provo. A lot.
Sorry this is so scattered. I'm in a weird mood and I can't seem to find words to express myself. Part of that is probably because I'm so dead tired-P-Day naps are my friend :D
Saturday was a downpour. But of course, we still had work to do so we braved it and rode through it! We tried to stay dry with the rain coats but it was pretty pointless. Wherever we weren't drenched by rain, we were drenched by sweat. Welcome to the South. At first it was plan miserable biking through the rain-only because I told myself I was miserable! As soon as I told myself to have fun with it, Saturday became one of my favorite days on my mission. I rode through every puddle I could find and just made the best of it. That's all we can do! Take what life gives us and enjoy the ride! As Presiden Monson says- find joy in the journey, not at the end (something like that). That Saturday pretty much every person we wanted to see wasn't home and everything fell through but we still had a great day! About 6:00 we had nothing to do since everything fell through so we decided to bike out to a couple members homes out in the sticks. It wasn't raining quite as much but it was a good 10 mile ride. We were riding on dirt (well, mud) roads, Elder Winfree got attacked by a squirrel, Elder Henderson completely biffed it sliding on the wet road, we almost got stuck in the mud more than once and got lost more than once as well. It was 8:30 pm by the time we got to the Quincy's house (in the area of their house haha) and we were pretty lost. But he came and found us and gave us steaks and a ride home. So that was pretty much the greatest day yet-even though we didn't do hardly any teaching. Not that teaching isn't fun or rewarding, that day was just particularly fun because I made it so!
Yesterday, on the other hand, was the best Sunday I've had in a while! I don't have a lot of time but I bore my testimony, Jerry got the Aaronic Priesthood, and an inactive member who hasn't come in 12 years came to church and wants to quit smoking! We also went to the Desimone's home to take the sacrament to Sister Desimone and had a mini sacrament meeting. Brother Desimone speaks spanish, italian, english, AND a some Portuguese. I think he used to live in Brazil and has been to Santa Maria! He broke down and started crying talking about how grateful he is that we took 2 years of our time for the Lord and used some of that time to help him and his wife. He said it couldn't have been a coincidence that we were assigned here because he's been to Santa Maria and can talk to us in Portuguese. She also bore her testimony and the spirit was so strong-it was so cool! There is no way this church is not true and I love it.
I don't have any time left but I love you! Keep me in your prayers and I'll continue to keep you in mine! Sorry about the terrible, scattered email! I love you! Tchau!
-Elder Weight
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