Maria Johnson is now married. So her name is now Maria Cursay.
Family and everyone else,
My parents just informed me that my second cousin will be coming into the new Modesto Mission 3 weeks from today. He is currently in the MTC. His name is Elder Brown. Let's hope this Elder Brown will be just as epic as my former companion from Colorado. Throughout this transfer, me and Elder Shepherd especially, have been feeling that I will be training in the next transfer. I don't know for sure. I certainly hope not. Yet I tell myself that I can do all things. Even after 15 months, I still feel like a new missionary.
On Monday, we talked to Giovanni again in our complex. We talked about different stories in the Book of Mormon, and we left with him one of my favorite one's about the brother of Jared seeing the finger of God and then the whole spirit body of Jesus Christ/Jehovah. Also that day, the Ward's in are ward (funny right) were talking to us about the Geno Diet. It's a diet specifically for your body type. There is a whole book about it and everything. It asks about your blood type, what your fingerprint is like, height, mass, eye color, and so many other things to take into account. You then calculate your score and it shows what group you are in and what food your body processes best. Other foods could take longer, and you will feel awful and tired. I thought it was interesting. I just don't know my own blood type. One of these days, I will figure that out.
On Tuesday through Wednesday, the Murray's in our complex asked us if we could take care of their dog for these two days. We counseled and we agreed. We ran the first morning with the dog called Dug, and we fed him, gave him treats, keep his water dish full, and took him to the dog park to play fetch periodically. It was okay. He is such a wild dog that doesn't seem to get tired very much. We also tried to keep him in the kitchen area but he kept hopping out, so we had no choice but to leave him in his kennel for 6 hours until they got back from a trip down in Los Angeles. They were very happy and we gained much more of their trust for whenever we may need them to help in the work.
Elder Shepherd seems to be very tired lately. What happens is we both go to sleep at regular 10:30. He goes through one sleep cycle, (which is about 4 hours for him), and then wakes up at 2:00 and can't fall back asleep. The condition: Insomnia, but he works through it. He did tell me that last night, he woke up and decided to play Settler's of Catan. He played it so long that he did 2 games. He also decided to vacuum the entire apartment, including the sleeping room. He waited to do that when he knew for sure I was in my most extreme deep sleep, so he finished vacuuming in the middle of the night, and I didn't wake up once. I was amazed when he told me this. He also showed me how bad of a snore I have. It's bad. So bad that I was laughing when he imitated what I do. I try so hard to not snore, but every time he calls out, "Elder, wake up. Your snoring." Then, my brain decided to register and wake up. Lastly, he was tired enough, that he got one more hour of sleep. I feel really bad that he can't sleep. Some people just develop that kind of thing. He even tried melotonin a good sleep aid. Even that didn't work. He's still very perky in the middle of the day. Which is good.
So, Marcia Baker is probably who you are just itching to here about right now. Well, her roommate decided he wanted to bring in his girl friend to stay to help pack for Marcia. She has a 5 year old son. She doesn't seem to make the best decisions. I won't say much before I start ranting negatively. Suffice to say, it complicated teaching Marcia. We are wrapping up our lessons before she gets baptized this coming Saturday at 4:00. She's excited. We are currently teaching the commandments of the church in lesson 4. She's gone over the restoration, plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the purpose of the temple, service, and the order of the priesthood.
We taught Sharlene Fortuni lesson 5, and we went over some new pamphlets that the church released to the missionaries. It was a cool experience teaching out of the new pamphlets. It better helped explain what the endowment and sealing are, and what the temple looks like inside.
On Friday, we practiced a lesson on a returning active girl named Secret Gonzalez. She knew the basic concepts of Joseph Smith. She just didn't remember the order of events, so we will better teach and focus on Joseph Smith so she can restrengthen her testimony in the prophet and her witness in him. I also forgot to mention that we did bring in the Eckle's to Marcia. It was a lovely meeting between the 3 of them. It was the first time I ever brought a whole couple into a lesson to anyone. Marcia loves meeting new people, and she invited them to her baptism before they went out to Utah for their nieces graduation.
Lastly, we had a Stake Priesthood meeting last night before Stake Conference next month. It was interesting. One kid talked about Seminary, and I put his talk into perspective in going back to Institute when I get home. I love Institute. The spirit can be felt, friends will be made. Think of it, you can be spiritually fed too and take a break from the world for the day. The Stake President also called for repentance for anyone that needed it in case priesthood power could not be accessed due to uncleanliness. Overall, it was a good meeting.
This is what happened this week.
Sincerely,
Elder White
Family and everyone else,
My parents just informed me that my second cousin will be coming into the new Modesto Mission 3 weeks from today. He is currently in the MTC. His name is Elder Brown. Let's hope this Elder Brown will be just as epic as my former companion from Colorado. Throughout this transfer, me and Elder Shepherd especially, have been feeling that I will be training in the next transfer. I don't know for sure. I certainly hope not. Yet I tell myself that I can do all things. Even after 15 months, I still feel like a new missionary.
On Monday, we talked to Giovanni again in our complex. We talked about different stories in the Book of Mormon, and we left with him one of my favorite one's about the brother of Jared seeing the finger of God and then the whole spirit body of Jesus Christ/Jehovah. Also that day, the Ward's in are ward (funny right) were talking to us about the Geno Diet. It's a diet specifically for your body type. There is a whole book about it and everything. It asks about your blood type, what your fingerprint is like, height, mass, eye color, and so many other things to take into account. You then calculate your score and it shows what group you are in and what food your body processes best. Other foods could take longer, and you will feel awful and tired. I thought it was interesting. I just don't know my own blood type. One of these days, I will figure that out.
On Tuesday through Wednesday, the Murray's in our complex asked us if we could take care of their dog for these two days. We counseled and we agreed. We ran the first morning with the dog called Dug, and we fed him, gave him treats, keep his water dish full, and took him to the dog park to play fetch periodically. It was okay. He is such a wild dog that doesn't seem to get tired very much. We also tried to keep him in the kitchen area but he kept hopping out, so we had no choice but to leave him in his kennel for 6 hours until they got back from a trip down in Los Angeles. They were very happy and we gained much more of their trust for whenever we may need them to help in the work.
Elder Shepherd seems to be very tired lately. What happens is we both go to sleep at regular 10:30. He goes through one sleep cycle, (which is about 4 hours for him), and then wakes up at 2:00 and can't fall back asleep. The condition: Insomnia, but he works through it. He did tell me that last night, he woke up and decided to play Settler's of Catan. He played it so long that he did 2 games. He also decided to vacuum the entire apartment, including the sleeping room. He waited to do that when he knew for sure I was in my most extreme deep sleep, so he finished vacuuming in the middle of the night, and I didn't wake up once. I was amazed when he told me this. He also showed me how bad of a snore I have. It's bad. So bad that I was laughing when he imitated what I do. I try so hard to not snore, but every time he calls out, "Elder, wake up. Your snoring." Then, my brain decided to register and wake up. Lastly, he was tired enough, that he got one more hour of sleep. I feel really bad that he can't sleep. Some people just develop that kind of thing. He even tried melotonin a good sleep aid. Even that didn't work. He's still very perky in the middle of the day. Which is good.
So, Marcia Baker is probably who you are just itching to here about right now. Well, her roommate decided he wanted to bring in his girl friend to stay to help pack for Marcia. She has a 5 year old son. She doesn't seem to make the best decisions. I won't say much before I start ranting negatively. Suffice to say, it complicated teaching Marcia. We are wrapping up our lessons before she gets baptized this coming Saturday at 4:00. She's excited. We are currently teaching the commandments of the church in lesson 4. She's gone over the restoration, plan of salvation, the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the purpose of the temple, service, and the order of the priesthood.
We taught Sharlene Fortuni lesson 5, and we went over some new pamphlets that the church released to the missionaries. It was a cool experience teaching out of the new pamphlets. It better helped explain what the endowment and sealing are, and what the temple looks like inside.
On Friday, we practiced a lesson on a returning active girl named Secret Gonzalez. She knew the basic concepts of Joseph Smith. She just didn't remember the order of events, so we will better teach and focus on Joseph Smith so she can restrengthen her testimony in the prophet and her witness in him. I also forgot to mention that we did bring in the Eckle's to Marcia. It was a lovely meeting between the 3 of them. It was the first time I ever brought a whole couple into a lesson to anyone. Marcia loves meeting new people, and she invited them to her baptism before they went out to Utah for their nieces graduation.
Lastly, we had a Stake Priesthood meeting last night before Stake Conference next month. It was interesting. One kid talked about Seminary, and I put his talk into perspective in going back to Institute when I get home. I love Institute. The spirit can be felt, friends will be made. Think of it, you can be spiritually fed too and take a break from the world for the day. The Stake President also called for repentance for anyone that needed it in case priesthood power could not be accessed due to uncleanliness. Overall, it was a good meeting.
This is what happened this week.
Sincerely,
Elder White
Tyler's dad asked him some questions, and here are his answers: It's getting hot over here. 80's, and 90's all week until Friday. It will drop back down to 72. No big clouds though. The dry season is getting ready to begin. Just great. Well, one more summer heat and I'm home. My bike is doing just fine, though, I do be careful what back gears I use since the derailleur got bent throughthe crash. Other than that, the blue fork looks super cool. Now I wish my whole bike was blue. I'm thinking about buying duck Tape today whenever I find some and make the whole bike look black and less desirable to steal since it's California and all.
With food, a pot of spaghetti can last me a whole week. I do my usual oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast. It's fast, easy, cheap, and somewhat nutritious. We do get fed quite often in the Northland Ward. It's nice, except for the vast distances just in the town part of our area. From our apartment, it takes about an hour just to bike to the church building. We do get rides instead.
With food, a pot of spaghetti can last me a whole week. I do my usual oatmeal and yogurt for breakfast. It's fast, easy, cheap, and somewhat nutritious. We do get fed quite often in the Northland Ward. It's nice, except for the vast distances just in the town part of our area. From our apartment, it takes about an hour just to bike to the church building. We do get rides instead.