10-4 Good Buddy (23 November)

Elder Huff & Elder Nelson

Hey'all!!! Another week has passed and now I can say I've been out in the field for over a month now. Whee! Everything is going splendidly and marvelously. This week started wonderfully, we went to shop at Aldis with the K-town elders and we met a member there and she decided to pay for all of our groceries!!! That made me feel pretty good. Thank you Sister Chrisman! 🏆 We then played our crazy ping pong game Elder Nelson created. That night we met a lady, who we thought was a former investigator, but at the end of the lesson Elder Nelson called her Jennifer and she said, "Um, my name is Jackie" 😳 Oops. Oh well, she accepted our baptismal invite though, so all's good. Elder Nelson and I have been churning out the baptismal invites. We have the most invites and people on date in the zone. Not that numbers matter at all, as long as we all are trying our best. We have Jackie on date, as well as Caleb, a high schooler, who we also found at a former's house, Wesley and Lauren, a young couple who wants change in their lives, and Dorian, who we have only met with once, but we have had amazing lessons over the phone and he actually accepted the baptismal invite over the phone! Things are getting heated up in here!
This week was also full of meetings as well. On Tuesday Elder Nelson and I went to a trainee/trainer meeting. It was really long but fun. It was good to see all the people that I came out with and see how they are doing. I hung out with Buffaloe a bit, but he seemed kinda detached. We had some good laughs and discussions but I actually talked to the sisters from my MTC district more than him, which kinda makes me sad. Maybe he just wasn't having a good day? Anyway, it was good to connect with him. We had trainings by the Alexanders about obedience. It was pretty good. We went over rules that are commonly overlooked. Elder Nelson says the Alexanders are totally different from the Cravens. The Cravens were super strict with rules, Nelson said they even had a lot that weren't even in the white handbook. The Alexanders are different. They aren't lazy with the rules, but they go strictly off the white handbook and leave the rest to us. They said if they can't trust us we shouldn't be on a mission. So therefore, we are to monitor ourselves and make sure we are in line with the white handbook but most importantly the spirit. I think it is good because we can each strengthen in personal accountability and that will help us when we are off of our missions.
It was at this meeting that the President told me my hair was a little long(something I already knew, but needless to say, his words pushed me a little 😐), so the next day Nicole cut my hair. She did an amazing job. And while she was doing so, we taught a lesson on tithing and she bore her testimony about tithing. It was really powerful. She told a lot of miracle stories about the blessings they had received because they had paid their tithing. She and Ben are doing well. They plan on getting married after she has the baby, but we're trying to get the bishop to talk to them and maybe speed up the process 😜. We visited them yesterday and had a lesson on Thanksgiving. It was a really good lesson and afterwards they were talking about how they had written down things that they were thankful for and taped them on the wall. Elder Nelson and I looked at them, and we noticed that Nicole put "The missionaries" on hers! Yay! That made me feel good. We go over there about twice a week and each time we go we see progression on Ben and Nicole's part. Becky, eh. Her kids are pretty cute though. Her boy, Jonathan, who is four, is a sports genius. You can ask him the record of any football team, the score of any game in the previous season, significant players on each team, or who a team is playing next week and he will tell you. I have only seen him answer one question wrong. He's going places.
Anyway, we had the training meeting on Tuesday, then on Thursday we had zone conference. It was an all day thing...😂. We had training, more training, lunch, more training, and even more training. Then we drove like crazy to get to the YMCA and did a service project there for the rest of the day. It was a big thanksgiving dinner thing for the homeless. We had a lot of fun and the YMCA people were very happy for our service. Elder Nelson and I were the front door greeters. We stood outside and welcomed people to the event. There were some pretty interesting people, man some awesome
people. We made friends with the security guard. We were all outside and he said, "Well since you guys are here, I'm going to go get some dinner. You guys hold down the fort." So now we are also security guards. I'm gonna have so much on my resume people will come to me to give me jobs. $$$$$$$$$$$$$ Well we had fun. After we exchanged and I went to Kannapolis with Elder Skinner. The day was pretty good. We talked to a guy named Phillip...for an hour and a half...I probably
said 50 words...Elder Skinner probably 75. Man Phillip can talk! We had steak at a dinner appointment with the Chrismans. Man she spoils us. We should pull her into the Concord ward. They are too good for the Kannapolis ward. That night we exchanged at the Thanksgiving dinner for the Concord ward. Saturday we went to dinner at Bishop Nanto's house (He was the one who sent the text picture, which looked just like spaghetti, but it was so much more than that. Delicious
Parmesan chicken!) and we put up their Christmas tree for service hours. It was pretty fun. Afterwards the bishop gave us some of his extra Christmas lights. Yes! We then decorated our house, until I fell off a table. Then we called it quits for the night and finished it in the morning. We feel all festive now at night when we turn the lights on. It's so exciting!
Question time. I will be here in Concord for Christmas. Training lasts for 3 months. That means I will be in Concord until January 20th and probably longer. President Alexander is doing less transfers. Elder Skinner has been in Kannapolis for 7 and a half months. It is getting more and more common for missionaries to stay in an area for up to six months since President Alexander has been here. So, I might be in Concord until April. Weather here is getting pretty chilly. Up until the middle of last week it had been pretty warm, but it has gotten pretty chilly since then. And when I say chilly I mean highs in the fifties. Not too bad. I haven't used my big coat yet except for when it rains I just use the outer liner. I am pretty sure that I will be using it pretty soon. I need something a little lighter because it is such a heavy big coat. Even just the inside is too thick. Oh well.
The lady that we saw with Elder Mautz has been kind of flaky. She is still interested, but we haven't been able to get a good sit down lesson. Her parents are opposed to it as well. We called her home phone and her mother answered the phone and she frankly told us that her daughter is a baptist and is not interested, but we saw Lisa at Walmart today and she wants to meet with us. We'll see. That stinks the Parkers are moving. You should tell them to stop by Concord NC when they go to D.C. Say hi to Jim McKean for me and all the other peoplz. I love y'all.
Elder Huff

Crazy Elders (Logan is on top of the fridge)