Hello!
How are things?
As usual, it's been an unusual week.
First of all, we went to the Brownfield branch on Sunday. They have about 15-20 active members there, in their own building. Our investigator who was going to come disappeared from the face of the earth. Later on in the week, we heard he actually moved back to Dallas. Such is missionary work, I suppose.
On Monday, I bought a ton of pre-shredded cheese for the ton of macaroni we already bought, and I have fallen in love with homemade macaroni and cheese. Mix in some Frank's Red Hot sauce and it's even better.
On the almost opposite note, we got to go to a pig slaughtering! Brother Mortensen trapped six pigs out somewhere not too far from Lubbock. He had been keeping them in a cage on his ranch, just outside of town. He already turned three of them into sausages and on Friday, it was time for the other three. He invited everyone in the singles' branch and about 20 people came (and only one girl among them). I later learnt that Sister Robison was opposed to us even attending. Brother Mortensen wanted everyone who was there to at least try something. Elder Northey really got his hands dirty. I took a hand at skinning one of them. It was kinda tough. It's not like it just peels off; you need a sharp knife and you have to really cut it. As usual, nothing about the whole morning even phased me; I found the whole thing kinda cool, actually. You could never tell from the ugly pictures of me. The weird faces I had on were like that because you really have to pull hard on the skin for it to come off. Appropriately, once all three were gutted, skinned, and washed up, we all went to the Mortensen home for ham sandwiches (store bought, though). Elder Tripp seemed to have a hard time. He even said that the sandwiches smelled like those pigs, which kinda made him lose his appetite. After lunch, everybody went to cutting the meat and passing it through the grinder to make sausages, but we had to leave. We have been busy all week.
Transfer time is coming up. Elder Northey is in charge of keeping track of all the cars and I'm the one who has to update the computer where the assignments of each missionary. So we went to the mission home to get the scoop on the new transfer. There's a transfer board upstairs in the mission home and that's where President and the assistants discuss changes. When we were there, they were still making changes and we got to sit in while they talked about it. It was cool getting a taste of how President works and makes decisions. Every day I learn how hard he really works for the mission. He is very dedicated. Meanwhile, Sister Robison is just as busy as with other stuff and I got to see a lot of that, too. It's really a blessing to have them here.
There's going to be a lot of changes this transfer. For the first time, I got to find out about it all before it actually happens. I'd tell it all, but it hasn't happened yet. Well, I know where I'm going. I'm staying right here. Sometimes, it's nice to know whether you're staying or not. In the past few transfers, there's hardly been any changes. President is always tempted to just say everyone is staying put, but he said with the potential good that will come, he has to make these changes. We're going to get more than a quarter of the mission pass through Lubbock - either going from the south to the north, or vice versa, or moving cars, or whatever; when in the past, it was just a handful. I'm also the one who pays the bus driver/bus tour company. Let's just say a bus+driver for two days and the motel for the night in between costs quite a bit.
We've also been and will be busy with opening and closing apartments. I spent half of Wednesday up in Plainview, Texas, moving furniture and cleaning up for the inspection. We're going to be moving a lot of furniture all over the mission because we're opening a few areas and closing some others.
Oh, and thank you for your package! I loved it, especially the comment on the smudgy pen! I also got a card from the Robisons, a cake from the Hansens, and (as with every missionary) Sister Robison called and sang.
Anyways, we have a ton to do, and the first right now is to eat food. The last couple weeks, we've been having P-day over two days: Saturday morning (for emails, etc) and Monday afternoon (to join the rest of the zone in whatever activity they do). This Monday, we're going to be insanely busy, so we're pretty much doing it all today... I guess.
I'm sure I've forgotten something in this long letter (which I thought would be small), but all is well.
The Church is true.
...and a bird just smacked into our window. (again.)
I love you!
-Elder Brandon Wong
Something I wish I knew before my mission: how awesome homemade macaroni and cheese is. (Not that I didn't already know this one.)
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Saturday, March 14, 2009 - Nuclear Brain
Hey!
Not much has happened this past week. Mainly because I was sick for half-- all of it. On Tuesday morning, I woke up with a killer headache. I had trouble going to the weekly district meeting, and by the end of it, I had to go home and rest. NOTE: NEVER sleep during the day when you're sick! Lie in bed, sit on the couch, just don't sleep! If you do, you won't sleep that night, and you'll go crazy! ... crazy! cra-zee.
Anyways, I was home-bound on Wednesday, too.It wasn't until Thursday night that my headache *kinda* went away. What does a 100+ hour headache mean? I don't know, but that, with some of my other symptoms, suggests to Sister Robison that it's some kind of sinus infection. I'm not completely convinced (I *thought* it was a cold, or the flu), but who am I to argue with the doctor?
Anyways, I'm now able to at least get out of the house, and do stuff. Yesterday, we went to Brownfield and we taught this guy named Richard. He's really cool - anything about religion gets him excited, and he has really long hair. Get a load of THAT combination. He reads everything he can get his hands on. We gave him a tour of the Brownfield chapel and he's going to be coming this Sunday. In fact, we're going to the Brownfield branch this Sunday, too (first time).
Last week, we did go to Sam's club. We used Elder Northey's club card and bought a million dollars' worth of food in bulk. If it doesn't last at least three weeks, I'm going to be really peeved. I also hope I don't get tired of the three liters of spaghetti sauce we got.
Pretty soon here we're going to have a mission office audit. It's done by a local member, chosen by the local stake president, and it's just to see that we're doing things right around here. Apparently, it was supposed to be done last month.
Oh, and we're getting a new assistant! His name is Elder Tripp. He's been in the Roswell zone for... forever, and he's really excited to be here, and so is everyone else. I've heard nothing but good about him. I'm happy about this.
Anyways, that's all I've got for right now. Hope it's going good! Please pray that my head doesn't explode, or melt, or something...
Much love,
-Elder Brandon Wong
Something I wish I knew before my mission: how to properly shop at a bulk foods store.
Not much has happened this past week. Mainly because I was sick for half-- all of it. On Tuesday morning, I woke up with a killer headache. I had trouble going to the weekly district meeting, and by the end of it, I had to go home and rest. NOTE: NEVER sleep during the day when you're sick! Lie in bed, sit on the couch, just don't sleep! If you do, you won't sleep that night, and you'll go crazy! ... crazy! cra-zee.
Anyways, I was home-bound on Wednesday, too.It wasn't until Thursday night that my headache *kinda* went away. What does a 100+ hour headache mean? I don't know, but that, with some of my other symptoms, suggests to Sister Robison that it's some kind of sinus infection. I'm not completely convinced (I *thought* it was a cold, or the flu), but who am I to argue with the doctor?
Anyways, I'm now able to at least get out of the house, and do stuff. Yesterday, we went to Brownfield and we taught this guy named Richard. He's really cool - anything about religion gets him excited, and he has really long hair. Get a load of THAT combination. He reads everything he can get his hands on. We gave him a tour of the Brownfield chapel and he's going to be coming this Sunday. In fact, we're going to the Brownfield branch this Sunday, too (first time).
Last week, we did go to Sam's club. We used Elder Northey's club card and bought a million dollars' worth of food in bulk. If it doesn't last at least three weeks, I'm going to be really peeved. I also hope I don't get tired of the three liters of spaghetti sauce we got.
Pretty soon here we're going to have a mission office audit. It's done by a local member, chosen by the local stake president, and it's just to see that we're doing things right around here. Apparently, it was supposed to be done last month.
Oh, and we're getting a new assistant! His name is Elder Tripp. He's been in the Roswell zone for... forever, and he's really excited to be here, and so is everyone else. I've heard nothing but good about him. I'm happy about this.
Anyways, that's all I've got for right now. Hope it's going good! Please pray that my head doesn't explode, or melt, or something...
Much love,
-Elder Brandon Wong
Something I wish I knew before my mission: how to properly shop at a bulk foods store.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009 - Lubbock Dust
Hello!
How are you?
I'm really tired today. There's a couple reasons. First, I'm sick. I had a pretty bad throat for a while; now it's a full-blown sickness. I blame Lubbock dust.
Which leads to my second reason, which is the cool service project we did this morning. The zone leaders have an investigator who is starting a new welding business, and he bought an old, old, OLD liquor store that he's going to convert. They offered to help him clean it up, and they invited everyone else. It's out in the middle of nowhere, and it was dir-ty! It was so dusty, we had to wear masks. Fortunately, we had most of the missionaries in the zone there,...and they cooked us lunch for it.
In other news this week: Elders Craven and King had a baptism. They were teaching a 12-year-old boy who has been wanting to get baptized for so long now. Every week, he had his white shirt all set for church so he could pass the sacrament along with the others. The only problem is, he's a foster child and no one was sure if we were allowed to (as if the state could restrict the whole "freedom of religion" thing...). But last week, they got written permission and so they held a last-minute, yet expected baptismal service on Sunday. The room was so packed that the rest of the missionaries in attendance had to listen from the hall. It was really great.
As for us, we've been doing a lot of work out in outlying towns. Technically, those towns are considered the others' area, but since we don't have to worry about miles, we work there. We've gone to Levelland a few times, and we're still teaching Terry. We've also met with the branch president of Brownfield (who lives in Levelland), and he's been helping us by telling us about some people we can go teach.
Also, Elders Johnson and Rasmussen are officially out of the office and are now full-time proselyting missionaries. Elder Northey and I are pretty much already settled in, and though I'm still training Sis. Hansen, the two of them are pretty comfortable now, too.
Oh, we got new credit cards for all the missionaries whose cards were deactivated the other week due to security issues. This is the second time it's happened. Our card company is really dropping the ball.
Service was fun, but all the dust and exertion may have made my cold worse.
Anyways, I'm glad to hear about the work in Montreal. Doubling baptisms is a big goal here, too. Starting not too long ago, it's all we're talking about around here.
Got to take off here. Elder Northey has a member card to Sam's Club, so we might go today.
The Church is true!
I love you!
-Elder Brandon Wong
Something I wish I knew before my mission: that lighters are good for more that just cigarettes.
How are you?
I'm really tired today. There's a couple reasons. First, I'm sick. I had a pretty bad throat for a while; now it's a full-blown sickness. I blame Lubbock dust.
Which leads to my second reason, which is the cool service project we did this morning. The zone leaders have an investigator who is starting a new welding business, and he bought an old, old, OLD liquor store that he's going to convert. They offered to help him clean it up, and they invited everyone else. It's out in the middle of nowhere, and it was dir-ty! It was so dusty, we had to wear masks. Fortunately, we had most of the missionaries in the zone there,...and they cooked us lunch for it.
In other news this week: Elders Craven and King had a baptism. They were teaching a 12-year-old boy who has been wanting to get baptized for so long now. Every week, he had his white shirt all set for church so he could pass the sacrament along with the others. The only problem is, he's a foster child and no one was sure if we were allowed to (as if the state could restrict the whole "freedom of religion" thing...). But last week, they got written permission and so they held a last-minute, yet expected baptismal service on Sunday. The room was so packed that the rest of the missionaries in attendance had to listen from the hall. It was really great.
As for us, we've been doing a lot of work out in outlying towns. Technically, those towns are considered the others' area, but since we don't have to worry about miles, we work there. We've gone to Levelland a few times, and we're still teaching Terry. We've also met with the branch president of Brownfield (who lives in Levelland), and he's been helping us by telling us about some people we can go teach.
Also, Elders Johnson and Rasmussen are officially out of the office and are now full-time proselyting missionaries. Elder Northey and I are pretty much already settled in, and though I'm still training Sis. Hansen, the two of them are pretty comfortable now, too.
Oh, we got new credit cards for all the missionaries whose cards were deactivated the other week due to security issues. This is the second time it's happened. Our card company is really dropping the ball.
Service was fun, but all the dust and exertion may have made my cold worse.
Anyways, I'm glad to hear about the work in Montreal. Doubling baptisms is a big goal here, too. Starting not too long ago, it's all we're talking about around here.
Got to take off here. Elder Northey has a member card to Sam's Club, so we might go today.
The Church is true!
I love you!
-Elder Brandon Wong
Something I wish I knew before my mission: that lighters are good for more that just cigarettes.
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