Elder Christian Hall in TSAM: I Forgot My Clever Subject-line in the Last Home We Visited

Dear Saints, Friends, and Others,

Not literal saints, of course. You know, like the title of our church.

Great week this week. Elder Anderson is a redhead from Washington, the tri-cities area. Well, at least that is where he claims. He has moved a total of 19 times during his life, not including the mission, and is family lives in Boise now. They moved about a transfer before he went to the MTC, and his MTC companion was Elder Greene. He told me that we are a lot alike.

So Friday we walk in after an evening of difficult work, and we find a package, wounded and spilling its contents on the dining room table. I didn't think too much of it -- Elder Anderson and I did some digital paper work on it and I look at what was in it -- Easter candy and an empty box that had a tie in it. I even checked the backside to see who it was addressed to. "Jacob D- ok that's good. It's Elder Smith's package." I put it back. Later, Elder Anderson commented that he expected a package to arrive, following what his mother told him in an email. I said to him, "the others usually check mail, and if the package isn't here already, it hasn't arrived to our mailbox." But he wasn't satisfied -- he looked at the package label, and sure enough -- Jacob D Anderson was on it. I was dumbfounded. How in the world did I miss the last name? It seemed also that Elder Smith was also misled. We looked at the card in the package, and it was extremely generic. It would seem that everything in the package would give the impression that it should be Elder Smith's, except the small print recipient. Even the return address was missing. It was really funny telling this to Elder Smith. He apologized, explained that he didn't eat any of the candy, and we recovered the tie.

So to have some healthy fun, I played something back the next day.

Elder Smith then told us on Saturday that he expected a package from his parents. He even asked us to pick it up for him since we would be in the complex for dinner. We checked the mail in the evening as we came in to make dinner, and sure enough -- he had TWO packages waiting for him. I decided to hide them in plain sight in their huge closet. Believe me, we got the short end of the stick when it comes to a closet, but I couldn't really complain. Anyway, I hid them in plain sight and then that evening when the two other elders came in, as expected, Elder Smith asked if we had picked up the boxes. I apologized, "Oh, I am so sorry. It slipped our mind. Y'all usually pick up mail, so I didn't think of it while we were there. Sorry." Elder Smith had checked the mailbox and didn't find a package slip, so he remarked, "It probably didn't show up then. We didn't find a slip when we checked tonight." Then after planning, I wandered to their room and talked to them; Elder Smith and I have a bunch of common interests from before the mission. I waited to see if either of them noticed the packages; they were completely oblivious. So I innocently helped them see: "Whoah Elder, where in the world did that box come from," pointing to an oversized package on the floor. That box was huge. Elder Smith made a snarky comment, but they didn't seem to notice the second, smaller box of the two. Then as Elder Smith and I talked, I made another remark, saying I would tell him where I put the other box if he gave me some of the food in the first large one.

"Don't lie to me, there wasn't another box."

"There was a box, I promise."

"You're kidding me. This box was big, you did not bring in two."

"I did."

"Tell me then, promise, was there really another one?"

"Without a doubt."

I proceeded to tease him a little bit, but then I clued him in that it was in the closet too. He found it within a minute, and we had a good laugh.

But missionary work isn't to make pranks, is it?

I told Elder Anderson from the beginning that Lake Travis has a high turn-over rate. We find investigators quite quick, but then we drop communication/ teaching them quickly, or they drop us very quickly. As a result, we still need to find like crazy, because we can't seem to hold onto a single person for long. We hardly drop anyone. We found M and A yesterday, and A said she had already found a church. Mike is recovering from health concerns, and might have interest. They said they are moving in the summer, or at least they might, so they might grab interest after they move.

Sister S is doing all right. On Saturday evening she had a family emergency, so she missed church. It was a little stressful. We had already scheduled time in the stake center for use of the font, and we made a few invitations, rather we made a page of them that we would copy. We're glad we didn't make a bunch. We're going to try and meet with her later this week, and help her get to conference. We're debating talking to the mission president to get permission to baptize her that day anyway, even though she doesn't have enough times at church to be baptized on April 9th. If not, well, we'll have to postpone it. She's getting baptized before I go home, I doubt it not, it's only a matter of how soon it happens. She's been keeping the word of wisdom. When we passed by on Sunday to see what went on, her husband, D, pulled in just as we came, and he said, "well, it's been a little hard to live with her," essentially because he doesn't break the word of wisdom in front of her, "but otherwise she has been doing fine." We found out from him about the family emergency. Pray for her, and for her family. We're hoping that things go ok with her and such.

R hasn't been to church in weeks. We cannot find him. Our only worry is that he has lost interest. Can't say for sure, really.

We're looking to find other people to teach, and we're using all stops, or whatever the phrase is, and we hope to enlist the members as well.

I'm sorry, I'm out of words to say. Things are getting better. I love the work, and the work loves me. If that's possible. And stuff.

Questions and Answers

So, how is your ward this week?

Doing better. We had a bunch of people at church (not people we are teaching, unfortunately) for Easter.

Speaking of, while waiting for Sacrament meeting to start, the choir director, the ward mission leader's wife called over: "Hey, are y'all singers?" Before I had the chance to say otherwise, Elder Anderson said, "Yes we are." So without any thought that we would be singing in the ward choir yesterday, we did. It was good practice. We sang Christ the Lord is Risen Today, and Beautiful Savior. Come to think of it, the ward choir at home has sang those songs recently, or at least for me.

We continue to pray for V, P and B, S and T. How are they doing?

We tried to visit S's home a few times, and it turned out he didn't like that. T handed us her phone, and he explained to us that he felt pressured that we were coming by to his house. That was not what we meant, but that's how he felt. Still trying to figure out who sent the text in the first place.

Waiting on P and B. We won't visit them until next week.

What do do find most interesting about your new companion, Elder Anderson?

He enjoys puns as much as I do. He's musical. He plays the piano a little, the cello a lot, and he was in a show choir. He can harmonize more than any other of my companions have been able too. He's shorter than me, so it makes me feel better. Just kidding. I'm not THAT shallow.

How are his personality and abilities working with yours as to serve your people?

He's also very intelligent. He and I gel together well, and I feel that we teach very well together. His obedience is to the Lord, not simply to rules. He was trained by Elder Hart, just like Elder Hansen was. He came from Canyon Lake ward, which he said was like upgrading to a bigger lake.

How are your bikes doing? Are they getting really lonely?

We took them out this week, but we didn't get the chance to ride them. They have each other, so they are not alone.

How are you preparing for General conference?

No one has signed up to feed us for general conference or anything, so we'll need to fix that. We'll continue to study the doctrine, and help people understand the importance of listening to the Lord's servants.

Pictures!