So the 4th of July was pretty insane! It’s weird hearing firework explosions without any mountains around. The mountains make them echo and sound really deep. In Michigan it just sounds like you’re in a war-zone! We went down to Thompson Lake where a Member’s family lives and hung out with them and their son’s family and two non-members. We just sat on the shore and roasted hot-dogs and smores while all the boats on the lake launched off fireworks. It was really cool because only the rich and retired people own homes on the lake so they all bought the really expensive fireworks. There was one house that kept shooting this one that was like an artillery shell!. It would shoot really high and then explode with just a “bang!” that felt like you were getting punched in the stomach. It was pretty cool. We’ve had SOOOO many members offer to take us out on their boat’s lately it’s crazy! It’s been really tempting too but water sports are outlawed in the missionary handbook so we can’t… they all say to come back and visit and we’ll go out on the lake then but we will see.
We have a baptism that we’re 99% sure will happen this week for our nine year old investigator. It almost feels like cheating for a convert baptism because she’s so young but rules are rules I guess. Hopefully it will help spark the ward and lead to more convert baptisms in the future. We have a couple really hopeful investigators that are really close but just won’t live that one last commandment. That’s been the story of my mission though so I guess I’ll keep trying to find a solution. We have been getting more and more support from the ward council and Bishop lately. I’ve made it my goal to show the ward council that Elder Mayfield and I are competent missionaries that know what we are doing. So I’ve been giving highly overly detailed progress records and copies of investigator teaching records (both of which have received comments from other missionaries that they’ve never filled progress reports out so fully). We’ve also showed them that we actually care about things in the ward by being involved in ward council discussions. I’ve had companions in the past (I won’t name names) that fall asleep in ward council and Sacrament meeting and I know that doesn’t help. For district meeting 2 weeks ago I lead a 30 minute discussion on how, as missionaries, we can’t afford to look bad at church by falling asleep at church or not being involved in classes or ward council. If we expect our investigators to come to church and have a spiritual experience, then WE need to come to church expecting to have spiritual experiences instead of looking at church as a 3 hour break for the week. I’ll probably never attend church the same way again after my mission.
The other big news this week is that Elder Mayfield’s family is moving to Wyoming and he is not happy. 🙁 Apparently Texans are very proud of being from Texas. Who would’ve known?
-Erik