October 20th

Dear Family

Also Friends. 

And Acquaintances who happen to read this as well. 

Or strangers. You too, I guess. 

It's been a swell week. And when I say swell, I mean swell. There were all sorts of shenanigans. In a good way. Monday the Salem elders came up, as usual, because Rolla is awesome. We couldn't think of anything to do though. We drove around. I got a Big Mac. Mostly for the Monopoly pieces though. Then we went to a thrift store. I did not purchase anything. I found some neat shoes that don't fit though. Oh, and now that I think about it there were some that did but I didn't have the money nor a need for shoes at that time. Following our adventures with the Salem elders, we met up with the bishop who paid for our dinner because he and his wife were ill. 

"Here Elders," **hands us some money** "...and you don't have to stick to Wendy's" 

Then we went into Wendy's and waited for the Bishop to leave the parking lot so we could leave Wendy's without feeling awkward about not actually wanting Wendy's. I ended up getting a Frosty and then the lady gave me this little frosty tag that entitles me to a free junior frosty with every purchase at Wendy's until March. At participating locations in Missouri. 

My free frosty count is up to two. 

Then we carved pumpkins at the Boehme's. I wanted to carve a Pac-Man Ghost. Then I remembered that when you make an outline all the way around the pumpkin, the inside doesn't magically stay in. 

Luckily I remembered this just seconds after I made the final incision. 

Also luckily the Boehme's had an extra pumpkin. 

*****

Tuesday

We saw people. Namely, the Williams. They are doing fine. They don't come to church regularly though, which is very frustrating. Just come to church. Really. Carly, the daughter, also refuses to read the Book of Mormon. Not in a "I refuse to read the Book of Mormon." sort of way, but in a "I didn't have time to read those few verses that would have taken me five minutes to read." sort of way, which really is a , "I'm actually not very interested." sort of way. That is always frustrating. So this week we gave her a story to read. We'll see what happens. Fingers crossed. 

Betsy is ready for baptisms. Except she doesn't come to church when her husband doesn't, which is unfortunately rather frequently. They've come three times I think. to be fair, it would be exceedingly difficult to come back to church after an extended period of not coming to church, but still. Come on. It's good for you. 

It seems you can either become really cynical as a missionary or just constantly be hopeful and then disappointed. It's probably better to always be hopeful, and you can't help but try to be, but it is difficult to fight off the cynicism when stuff like that happens. 

*****

Wednesday

The Esslingers are that cool couple we met at CVS that wants to be Mormon. Now we just need to get them out to church too. You could say that was the most frustrating thing about being a missionary this week. Forgive me for departing from the Wendnesday story here, but really people. There is not much of an excuse for not coming to Sacrament Meeting at least. What we need is some good awesome friends here in the ward for these people. 

Anyway. 

Esslingers. 

We saw Wes this Wednesday. It went well. Marie had a Doctor's appointment or something to that effect. We taught Wes a brief restoration, and he is trying to live the word of wisdom, which is basically the bane of missionary existence. Alcohol and tobacco, man. Rough stuff. 

*****

Thursday

Thursday night we contacted a former and her parents. Yuan. I think I've mentioned her. She is Chinese and her parents don't speak English, but for some reason thought we spoke Chinese. That was crazy. But it all worked out. We left dinner, then went over to Yuans, and they gave us a million dumplings to eat, and of course, it's offensive not to eat them, so there you go. I'm banking that I'll be blessed for being polite instead of skinny. Being fat has nothing to do with free frosties. I'm sure of it. At any rate, Sister Potter, who served a mission in Taiwan, helped us out there and it was swell. I may have almost thrown up, but the good news is they want to learn more. Again. Good stuff. 

****

Friday

Friday we went to the temple! Good stuff. Kansas City is about 3 1/2 hours away. We drove up, barely made it on time, then took some pictures and left. It was a long day. I felt pretty gross and tired when we got some 12 hours after we left. 

It was very much worth it though. I got to see a few people from Bentonville, and was able to go to the temple for the first time since I got to Oklahoma. Craziness. It was a great time. Super grateful. Plus, there was a non-member driving with us and he asked a bunch of question so that was way cool. 

Double Prizes. 

*****

The Rest of the Week. 

Pretty typical. We went to Cuba and there was a festival thing going on. Contacted a few people referred to us who weren't interested. The appointment we had set fell through, which was why we went to Cuba in the first place. 

Oh, had dinner at Christine's (a recent convert) for the first time. That was fun. She has this great little house that reminds me of Rachel's in Provo except it's a little smaller and doesn't have a second floor or a finished basement. It's old and wonderful though. Complete with aquamarine oven. 

Sunday was church and more church. Joryn Boehme came out to YSA group, which was great because ever person who comes out is much appreciated. She's a little too "cool" for motley little crew, but she was a good sport about it. 

YSA is a great reminder that we're all different. But there's something kind of fantastic about that, isn't there?

It was a swell week. 

Elder Christopher Drake