This week had ups and downs. We went bowling on Monday and they played some bangers over the speakers. The Killers, Paramore, and some other bands were played, and it was awesome. I didn't do very well in the actual game, but if that's the price a missionary has to pay for good music, then so be it.
We moved flats! We're now with most of the rest of the seattle north zone, and it's great. The new flat is a lot nicer, and more roomy. And, it has a washing machine! And an air dryer! For context, our previous one didn't, so this is awesome. We also don't have an ant infestation, or bedbugs (yet), and it doesn't smell of weed as much!
Oh it also snowed some days. That was cool
A lot of good lessons this week. Our friend, Three, is literally almost ready for baptism. We invited him, for about the third time, to be baptised on a date, but he said he needed time to think of one, so we're meeting with him later today, and hopefully he picks a good date!
Had a lesson with my Mexican counterpart, Miguel. It went about just as well as it could've. He, again, missed the point of the reading and asked unrelated questions. He is also literally almost ready for baptism, he just has some problems with the validity of the Book of Mormon. I was so close to quoting Darth Vader at him:
"I find your lack of faith disturbing"
To be fair, i want to say that to almost all of our friends, but I'm not sure how they'll take it
Some elders gave me a really spicy chili (the dish, not the pepper) to have. It was from a chili spice competition or something, and it had Carolina reapers and Ghost peppers in it. Now, I can handle spice. We like spicy food in our family. Most of us, anyway. When I say it was like Mount Vesuvius just erupted in my mouth, you know it was hot. My teeth were numb, my jaw was sore, my skull was tingly. I'm writing this bit like an hour later, and I can still feel it. Didn't drink milk though. We tough those out.
Had our interviews. Pretty good. Standard stuff. Moving on.
Actually, speaking of moving, I am! The APs, called, and told me I'm being sent from the bottom to the top. Seattle to Bellingham. We're doing what's been dubbed "Zebra-ing" which from my understanding is when they change a language speaking area to an English area, but still have a language speaking missionary in the area. So it'll be exciting. I'll probably get to know a little bit of Spanish, but hey it'll be fun.
(Update: the transfer board came out, and I have no idea what's going on. It looks like we're whitewashing, but I was told different, but oh well. Also, I'm gonna be senior companion serving in a family ward, and I've spent all my days in a ysa. This is gonna be the best/worst time ever)
I've thought a lot about the moment when I opened my mission call. It was a Tuesday, and I'd just woken up. Went downstairs, and watched my dad play COD while I woke up. I saw I had an email from the mission people, and got a little excited. I saw it was my mission call and got a lot more excited. My dad also got very excited. I opened it and read it to myself, teeming with anticipation, hoping it would be somewhere cool like South America, Scandinavia, or the Philippines or something like that. Then I read that I was assigned to labour the Washington Everett mission, and my first thought was "where?"
Looking back on that moment, and comparing the initial disappointment that it wasn't gonna be somewhere cool like Peru or Hong Kong, to the joy that I feel now, makes me realise just how much I've enjoyed being out here. I don't know why this sounds like I'm going home, I'm just moving areas, it's not that big of a deal as finishing your mission. But the Seattle YSA has been all I've known for the past six months. It's almost become a new home (don't worry, I'm planning on staying in scotland when i get home, dinnae panic) to me. I've met, taught and baptised great people, and the experiences I've had here have been some of the most spiritual I've ever felt in my entire life. I never fully realised the joy that the gospel brings into people's lives, until I became the vessel that the Holy Ghost can travel through to speak to the hearts of the children of men.
This links to one of my favourite scriptures, which i think I've already mentioned in my emails, but im gonna do it again, I don't care. It's a banger
"And now I, Nephi, cannot write all the things which were taught among my people; neither am I mighty in writing, like unto speaking; for when a man speaketh by the power of the Holy Ghost the power of the Holy Ghost carrieth it unto the hearts of the children of men." (2 Nephi 33:1)
It's true. I've witnessed it firsthand, and have been on both sides of "a man [or woman] [speaking] by the power of the Holy Ghost." It's beautiful and it truly does carry the words that are spoken "unto the hearts of the children of men."
Go see miracles, guys. Have fun, and don't do anything stupid. Remember the promises you have made, spiritual or secular. Doesn't matter
Stay true to yourself, and see you in Bellingham!
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