Week Forty Four - Building a Fence and Painting a House!

Hey,

Now this is the kind of week back home that I like to hear about.  Em's getting married!?!?  I figured this was coming soon. That is so crazy exciting I can't believe it!  From what I have seen, David is a great, genuine guy that knows how to treat a lady.  I approve and have absolutely no worries there.  Dad, your news, on the other hand, is not so pleasing.  I am sorry to hear about the pains you have been having, and now I feel terrible for taking it so lightly last week!  Have Tom give you a blessing and suck it up.  I will keep you in my prayers as well.  I would imagine that running the church ball tournament would be quite the hassle.  Certainly not my cup of tea.  But you will be blessed for your diligent service and efforts!  Tom, can you do any flips yet on the snowboard?  Hop on the lift with some chicas tomorrow and ask them on a date!  Mom, isn't that just the most convenient thing ever?  We can watch conference in the comfort of our own home and even pj's if we want!  What a great blessing that is, and I hope all will take advantage of that.  I am stoked!!!  Oh, and thank you for the relieving news about Toby : )

   My week was good.  Nothing quite as exciting as an engagement, but I if I were to pick a mission equivalent for an engagement, it would probably be an accepted baptismal invitation, and we did have one of those!  It wasn't a "heck yeah I'll get baptized!", but it wasn't a "no" either, so we can work with it.  We have a few semi solid baptismal dates right now, but they are still pretty far off.  We worked well with members this week, took a few steps forward, a couple back, but we've got some good things going for us right now. 

We had some good service opportunities this week.  We helped some members build a fence, and it was a smashing good time!  I got to break down the old fence, use some macho tools, and get my hands dirty.  It reminded me of working with dad.  We also came across some guys painting the outside of their house, so we helped them for a couple afternoons.  That too reminded me of working with dad.  They were impressed with our work ethic and told us they have more work for us.  I didn't get a single drop of paint of my tie, shirt, pants, nada!  Elder Malpartida wasn't so fortunate.  But they accepted an invitation to hear our message, and we are going back on Saturday.  Nice family with some great potential! 

   The weather here was good for most of the week, sunny and the perfect temperature for shirts and ties!  Saturday was the first big rainstorm of the year, and it was loco!  Gutters and some streets were flooded, and a few stop lights even stopped working!  And then, as if it couldn't get any better, there was a stunning double rainbow to top it all off.  I love Texas storms! 

-Pizza can wait.  We are really well fed here in McKinney.  The other day I weighed 190!  My companion has been told 3 or 4 times now that he is looking chubbier than when he very first got here, but nobody has said anything to me yet! 

-The elders in the area play basketball most P days, and we have gone a couple of times, but  I'm not really thirsting after any b ball right now, and we usually have other things going on.  Today a member is cooking us buffalo meat for lunch!\ 

-I think I am good until Easter.  I still have half a bin full of treats from Christmas! 

-Driving the car is going well.  Definitely enjoying it on the cold and rainy and windy days.  Elder Haskell told me about his bike.  We would lock our bikes on that very tree that they got stolen off of all the time! 

Well I think that'll do it for this week.  I hate to say it, but emailing is getting kind of old, and it is hard to think of stuff to tell y'all!  So either I have been having some boring weeks lately, or I am just numbed to the missionary life now.  I'll try to make something crazy happen this next week!   Love and miss y'all, and I pray that everybody will have the best week of their life!

Elder Williams