Monday, June 29, 2009 - Ants in My Pants

Hi!

How are things in hot Canada?

We're averaging about 103 here, with the nighttime low being about 78+. Yesterday and today, it's been cloudy, making it a quite nice. Even the heat wouldn't be so bad if the sun wasn't there, I've discovered.

Well, first things first, we had a baptism on Saturday! A lady named Dalia has been investigating the church for several months now. She's been living all the commandments of God (including tithing) and coming to church every Sunday. Whenever the missionaries would ask her if she would like to be baptized, she would say no. Then on Monday, we had a lesson with her and brought a recent convert. We talked about baptisms for the dead and the member shared part of her conversion story. By the end of the lesson, she said she needed to be baptized. We had the service on Saturday. Since it was last-minute, there weren't that many people that attended. Also, the plug to the font was cracked or warped. So by the time the actual baptism came, there was less than a foot of water in the font. So she sat down in it and Elder Tuttle knelt down, and they still managed to do it. (I suppose symbolically, it represents death better when lying down.) None of that mattered, though, since she was really happy.

The next day (Sunday), she didn't show up to church, even as the meeting was starting. We were afraid that she forgot, or something. so we left sacrament meeting, said a prayer and drove off to remind her. Fortunately, we saw her car, as we were driving to her house, driving up to the church. She was confirmed by the bishop.

We also got a short visit by Elder Bogenschutz, an RM, who was one of the Assistants when I came to the mission. He brought us Sonic Blasts and we chatted for a while.

We also heard about Michael Jackson (and Farrah whats-her-name) from a member that we were visiting. Elder Tuttle said that the world without him is like nightmares without the boogie man. It is a weird thought, in any case.

While in a member's house, I saw a version of Monopoly called "Here and Now", or something like that. So it looks like Montreal won the #1 spot, huh? That's cool.

Now for the fun stuff. On Wednesday night, as I was going to sleep, I found a colony of ants crawling on my bed. I vacuumed and washed the sheets, but the next night, there were still more. So I've been sleeping on the couch all week, and all my mattresses are standing upright in the bedroom, completely covered in RAID ant-killer. That ought to do it.

The high council speaker on Sunday was Brother Cale from San Angelo. His son, Jeffrey, is serving his mission in Ogden, so he probably knows Jonathan.

By the way, my mailing address is correct. I also got your Canada Day card.

Not including the cloudy weather we've been getting, it's hotter than the proverbial Hades, but things are otherwise going well.

I can't send pictures on this library computer, but hopefully, I'll be able to send them using the computers at Elder Lofgran's apartment complex.

Anyways, I hope you had a Happy Birthday, Mom, and a Happy Canada Day.

I know that the Church is true, and I know that our Heavenly Father answers prayers.

I love you!

-Elder Brandon Wong