Saturday, February 28, 2009 - 'Rag on Americans' Day!

Hi!

What's new in Montreal?
I don't even know what's new in Lubbock, but I'm probably better off not knowing, right?

That's pretty cool what's going on at school and at church...

Is "flushed out" really the term that missionaries in Montreal use? Here, we say "white-washed" for when two elders (or sisters) come into an area at the same time, brand new. The exception is when two sisters come in to replace two elders; then it's called pink-washing. I told you that the missionary lingo is very developed. That's *kinda* what Elder Northey and I did to our area, since I was only here 2 weeks before Elder Northey came in. But it's true; it is hard when both of you are brand new to the area. I've also taken a while to remember my phone number before. Not this time, since everyone in the mission knows this [mission office] phone number. Same thing with driving directions. The best way for me to learn it is to be the one driving around, even if someone is telling me where to go. Otherwise, I just don't pay attention.

Also, I have met Elder Willson, though I don't really know him very well. He's in my old area, in San Angelo.

Oh, and, uh... my companion and I went to a branch once, and we increased the attendance by 20%, just by being there. Does that count for anything?

It's awesome to hear about our elders, finally in the MTC. I was able to see Elder Bilodeau there, but only once or twice the whole time (especially since we were in different language programs).
And that lightsaber trick is really cool. Someone tried to do that for me, but the flash didn't go off and I never bothered to delete the picture. There's also another classic MTC picture with missionaries walking on the walls, matrix-style.

I've also had American missionary critics. For example, so many people ask if I say "eh?", yet they say it more than I do! Things we have to put up with, right?

Obesity is a problem here, but it's not so much "overweight LDS members", as it is, "overweight everybody". Actually, in our ward, it's less of a problem. We actually have a lot of young couples with little kids, so they haven't had time to get fat. We even have one family of vegetarians - something I never thought I'd see in Texas. There is one sister missionary in our mission that *was* vegetarian. Anyways, dinner at their place was very unusual. We had chips and salsa, a plate of carrots and celery, and potato wedges. I can now claim (if I couldn't before) that I've had chips and salsa for each meal of the day.

Speaking of which, our mission has a new rule. All of our meal appointments have to be "centered around a missionary opportunity". Ideally, we have to have an investigator there. There are also other situations that are acceptable. Like, if a family feels like they need to be more missionary-minded or they have a friend that they want to introduce, they can invite the missionaries to help teach them how, and have dinner too. Also, if a ward or stake leader wants to follow-up with the missionaries, or get an update, they can make an evening of it. People tell us that we've had this rule before, but it didn't last long. I'm not sure about it myself, but it's definitely based on good principles. In other news, we're stocking up on ramen.

We've also been doing quite a lot of work in the outlying towns. We met the branch president of the Brownfield branch and he's going to arrange a ride for our investigator who lives in Levelland!
He also referred a few people to teach. Also, this coming Sunday is Stake Conference. this one is a broadcast.

We're also changing out two of our three land lines in the office for cell phones. E. Rasmussen did a few additions, and he estimates we can save about $250 a month that way. Not only are cell-to-cell calls free, but we're going to get unlimited long distance on our remaining line.

The Hansens are pretty much all settled in now. We helped them move in and they had us over for an amazing pot roast. Sister Hansen is a really good cook.

Anyways, stay happy!
The Church is true.
I love you.
(That kinda rhymes.)

-Elder Brandon Wong
Something I wish I knew before my mission: how prejudiced some Americans can be. ;)