Portland 2.0

This week has been crazy busy with transfers coming up. Today the transfer doc came in and I’m going to be staying in Portland serving with Elder Funk! We were both on the same flight group so I'm really excited!

Last Monday the four Elders in our district went for a walk in the cemetery which took us into the woods, and it was a ton of fun.

Last Tuesday we had exchanges with the Portland English Elders and I went with Elder Wiltbank. It was nice to have some more bonding time with him since he’s such an amazing person. He’s going home to Lehi, Utah this Friday so watch out. Also, we finally got to play Fortnite Monopoly! I never thought I would have so much fun playing Monopoly. I absolutely loved it. Instead of trying to gain money you’re trying to be the last one alive by attacking others and taking their life tokens.

On Thanksgiving Elder Wood and I had a lesson with a man named Victor Nkurunziza. He’s a friend who just got referred to us from my MTC comp ELDER WRIGHT!!!! It turns out that Victor lived in Magna for 3 months and attended church weekly there. It was really amazing to find that out. After the lesson we went to Elder and Sister Davies’ house and ate dinner with the district and played card games.

On Friday we had our last district council together. We were all very sad and emotional because Elder Wiltbank is going home so it was his last district council. At the end of the council, he gave us each a matchbox/ hotwheels car that he felt represented us. My emotions were all over the place on Friday with the news of Grandpa's passing, but I asked Elder Wiltbank to give me a blessing of comfort and I'm doing better now.

 

Yesterday we had exchanges with the Portland English Elders again. Elder Taylor and I were companions this time, so I got to drive again. It’s really funny, I’m already so used to driving with Tiwi yelling at me and yet I’m not even supposed to have driven yet.

I’d like to finish off this weekly by taking a moment to recognize my Grandpa McAllister. He was an amazing man who had more of a larger impact on those around him than he realized. I never met a man with as many words of wisdom or amazing stories. I’m proud to have been his Grandson. You will be missed Grandpa. I’m glad that you’re finally able to rest and live with Grandma for eternity. I love you and I’ll see you in the next life.

 

I don't think I'll show my kids Cocomelon. 😆

This week has been crazy chaotic and all over the place. During the first half of the week I was really homesick and stressed which affected my sleep. This week I’ve only had one or two complete nights of sleep without waking up with stuff on my mind. Also, would not recommend being in a room with the kids series Cocomelon for two hours before going to bed. I woke up on Thursday and couldn’t fall asleep for 30 minutes because I had the Ram Sam Sam song stuck in my head. Luckily I had an amazing interview with President Hayden that helped me a ton and relieved a lot of my stress. I’ve been sleeping better since the interview. I absolutely love President Hayden, he’s an amazing man and I was definitely meant to serve under his guidance.

Last Monday was our District P-day and we played indoor pickleball at the church and also played board games. I learned how to play the card game The Skull King which is a pretty fun non-gambling betting game.

On Wednesday Elder Wood and I built our third Yaheetech bed so…I guess if you need help building a bed in 20 months just call me up.

On Saturday we helped with delivering the orders from the Bishop’s store house. A truck came and dropped off a ton of food and supplies and then we organized it into the orders that people needed. It was really fun to do.

That’s all for this week. I started a 1000 piece Mandalorian puzzle do we'll see how long it takes me to do that. Overall, it was a pretty normal week, nothing too crazy happened but this next week will definitely be interesting so you can look forward to that. Talk to you all then!!!

The Kolob Hype!!!

This week blew by so quickly that I'm pretty sure I sent one of these yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, the week has gone by so quickly that I started writing this weekly last night. I normally try to write out a little each day, but I guess not this week haha. 

On Monday we went to Texas Roadhouse and that was really good. Elder Wood “zeroed out” on his MSF and I wasn’t that hungry (I had lunch and an entire pint of “homemade” ice cream from a farm) so I bought a meal and we split it between both of us.

On Wednesday we went on exchanges with the Zone leaders. Since they’re in a quad we split into two trio’s. I went with Elder Henderson and Elder Richards. We did a lot of street contacting and tracting. The highlight of it was when we were about to get in the car because we were already running late but then Elder Henderson said we needed to knock on this door. An inactive member opens the door and it turns out he wants to eventually return to church. He was very happy that he now has the missionaries phone number to be able to call and figure out how to return in the future. Also, during the exchange Elder Henderson gave me The Kolob Hype. It's a dubstep version of Hie to Kolob but with Elder Holland hyping you up during General Conference.

Friday was an absolute blast! We had district council at Elder and Sister Davies’ house and after had an amazing lunch. Then we changed into service clothes and all ten of us went and raked leaves at the Barton family's house. It was a ton of fun and near the end we pushed a ton of leaves into a big pile and took turns jumping into it from the top of a small slope. The crazy thing is that the pile of leaves was only around 1/30th of all the leaves we raked and picked up on the property.

On Saturday Sylvain and Clarisse got baptized and it was really amazing to watch their reactions throughout the whole process. It was also pretty cool because one of our other friends named Welles came to watch and it was his first time in the church so we were able to show him the chapel as well. Later that night we had the ward’s Soup & Pie Night and that was awesome. It was just a giant get together where we all ate, well you know, soup and pie.

Yesterday Sylvain and Clarisse got confirmed during sacrament and it was very spiritually powerful. They have such an amazing joy of this gospel, and it truly is amazing.

And Voila that's my week! The transfer has two and some change weeks left and it's only felt like a couple days so yeah. Time really has been different on the mission. Weekends only have half a day now and they start and end on Monday when everyone else is starting their week so it's really interesting adjusting to that. One day when I come home I'll just question reality because of how long weekends will feel. Anyways that's all for this week. Loves to all!!!

P.S. Some of these pictures are from more than a week. I just got them this week from other missionaries.

P.P.S. Dang, I have too many pictures. A second email shall follow apparently.

Tired, Hungry, and chilling at the ocean at 5:00 A.M.🤙🏼

This week blew by so quick that I can’t really remember all of what happened. Since I can’t remember what happened each day this week's email is going to be different and just have random events that may or may not be in order.

Elder Wood and I started to teach a man named Francisco and his friends Angele and Roza (could be Rosa). They’re all immigrants from Angola and they currently don’t have jobs or places to live. We’re teaching them about the gospel and the Book of Mormon and trying to help them find resources to start learning English so they can find jobs. Francisco was a pastor back in his home country and it’s amazing to see his faith and belief. At our second lesson with him he told us that he’d already read until half way through Alma, despite us not even extending the invitation to read the Book of Mormon yet, and that he believes it to be true. 

Two of our Friends, Sylvain and Clarisse, are on date to be baptized this next Saturday. They’re very faithful and it’s going to be amazing to participate in helping them to be baptized.

We had zone council which was a good spiritual experience. We got new Tiwi’s which are a little quieter so now it’s not just blaring NO DRIVER VIOLATION!!! PLEASE LOG IN!!! Elder Wood and I got Reese’s as a reward for being one of four cars in the entire zone with a clean car.

We had Chick-Fil-A with the district which was fun.

We went on exchanges so Elder Taylor and I were together in the Portland, Maine English area for the day. I don’t know Portland well and neither does Elder Taylor but since I technically had more experience, I was leading us out, so we ended up doing our best to slap some activities together. The only reason it was hard was because the English area here in Portland just barely opened meaning they have no friends or contacts to set up lessons with. Also, because we’re both Greenies one of us needed to drive so we got permission and I drove again. It was a ton of fun and this time I got 0 check your speeds. We went back at 9:00 to our apartment but Elder Wiltbank was joking around with us saying we could be in and safe at 9:30 so Elder Taylor and I dropped off a Book of Mormon in one of those free library boxes, gave a guy a pamphlet, and got drinks at a gas station and I taught the cashier the first principle in our lessons which is that God is our Heavenly Father who loves us. 

The four of us Elders woke up at 5…something…I don’t remember I just woke up and got moving. But anyway, we ended up at the beach by the Headlight Lighthouse (which, fun fact, is the oldest lighthouse in the country) and watched the sunrise. It was awesome. We then went and helped a member rake up the leaves in his yard and that took 2+ hours but was a ton of fun. As a thank you he bought us some sub sandwiches. I ate the whole thing even though it had lettuce and tomatoes on it. It was really good but made my stomach really upset. I think I might be intolerant to tomatoes the same way as I’m intolerant to eggs. I think that’s also why I was having stomach aches when I was eating California Burrito in Nashua with Elder Dewey, it had tomatoes in it as well.

Yesterday Elder Wood and I got a video call from Paul and he said, “Allô my brothers, I have something I need to tell you. I’m really sorry, but that bed you guys helped me build, it’s, it’s too big.” The frame was a queen size but his mattress was a full size. “My friend has queen bed, so I gave the, the metal frame to my friend.” Then he turns the camera around to a new bed frame in the corner of his room.”My friend got me new bed frame that fits. Brothers I need your help, I don’t know how to make bed, can you please help me?” Elder Wood and I were just grinning because we love Paul and his English is so much fun to listen to because he puts all his effort into each word. I don’t remember if I said this or not but we’re teaching Paul English so he does his best to use English when talking with us to help him learn better.

That about sums up my week. It was a ton of fun and pretty busy. I love the people I'm teaching here. They're all so kind and patient even though I speak terrible French. I love you all for your continued support. I'll talk to you all next week but until then have a good one!!!