Monday, June 23, 2014

Week Fifty Six - Attending a Funeral and Going to the Temple!

David and Elder Packham at the Dallas Temple - they won the competition!

David and his friend Aleck, who leaves on his mission to Peru in September.

Four-day-old pit bulls!

They found a friend out by the dumpster....
 
David lost in the corn!
I apologize for the short email last week, but this email stuff is getting old!  Especially when nothing hardly happens during my week.  But I do love hearing about y'all's week, and I know you love hearing about mine, so I will try my best to not let that happen again.  But I do want to let you know that some members bought our Subway sandwiches last Monday after emailing.  MIRACLE!   
So I will share with you the events that have taken place over the last two weeks, in no particular order at all.  
Elder Packham and I went to the temple!  When you only get to go to the temple once every six months, you sure do appreciate it a lot more.  It was a great experience as always, and I can't wait until I will be free to go every single week!  I think it is easy to take the temples for granted at home considering the fact that we live right in the middle of about 6 temples that are all within a half hour of us.  I hope everybody is taking advantage of the easy temple access that we are blessed with!  Oh, and I met a temple worker that went to my high school 40-something years ago!  It's a crazy small world. 
We attended the funeral of Hermana Mondragon's mother.  She moved in with the Mondragon family about three months ago when she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  When I first met her, she could walk and talk, carry on a conversation and think fairly straight.  It was sad to see how fast she lost her ability to do all of those things, and her last couple of weeks of life she couldn't do anything but breath and eat.  So Hermana Mondragon invited us to the funeral, and we went.  I quite sure it was only the second funeral I've ever attended in my life; the first being when I was in first grade.  I wasn't sure what to expect.  It was strange.  Nearly everybody was crying, and some people were even wailing.  We listened to some pastor that was really animated talk and rehearse scriptures from the Bible for over close to an hour, which was about an hour too long.  It felt very ungenuine.  David Mondragon was the only other member there besides us.  It was interesting to see the difference between him and the rest of his family.  He asked me what LDS funerals were like.  I told him I didn't know because I had never been to one, but I would imagine they are a little different.  Attending the funeral made me grateful for the knowledge that I have of the Plan of Salvation.  
My legs are covered in chiggers.  If you don't know what they are, google it!  When I first heard about them, I just thought it was some joke that was told to the greenies to scare them about walking on grass.  Nope!  They are real and they are a pain!  I seem to pick up one or two more every day.  We were told that the best remedy for chiggers is wearing pantyhose or covering the bites with nail polish.  I haven't gone to the store yet to get some pantyhose, and I don't know if I will.  But we have been trying the nail polish and it seems to be working fairly well after a few treatments.  But I haven't itched this bad since the shingles!  
It is getting HOT.  We have had a few days lately of low and mid 90's, and I am starting to wonder how I survived last summer.  But people are always willing to give us water bottles, and I am sure I will adjust to the heat and survive.
We are teaching quite a bit, but mostly one and done lessons with stubborn, hard-headed, flaky people.  We have one progressing investigator, who is a nine year old girl that should be baptized on the 21st of this month.  Her older sister did have a date as well, but we have come to find out that she is a bit of a rebellious, typical sassy teenage girl, that isn't too gungho about any of this church stuff.  It is hard because she is super quiet in front of us and won't tell us what is really on her mind and how she really feels.  But she left for girls camp this morning and that should be really good for spiritual progress.   

-I would probably eat just about any breakfast/granola bars that you send me.  Anything  that is healthy, filling, and doesn't taste like cardboard.
-You can hold on to the protein powder.  If nobody else wants it and it doesn't expire before I get home, then I would be happy to use it after the mission.  
-Still working on the wart.
-The CD's are great, but there are only a handful of songs that I really consider appropriate for every day missionary work.  But sometimes I put them in on a P day or just when I need a boost of energy or a picker-upper because the songs really make me want to TWIST and SHOUT(dance and sing like a maniac).
 -I can't think of anything I need.

That's all I can think of.  McKinney is getting kind of old.  I feel like I am running out of things to do, places to knock, people to talk to, and things are just slowing down.  But I am doing well, smooth sailing with the comp, and you don't need to worry about me!  Much love and I miss everybody!  Have the best week of your life!

Elder Williams  

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