So yeah, I have to write this quick email from my companion's tablet...because mine was stolen. It's what happens when you take your eye off of it for a few minutes at Walmart. I filled out a police report and hopefully we'll get it back, but today's been one heck of a day, sorry, I won't be able to write my typical email to everybody, but just tell everyone I love them, and hopefully I'll email next week...hopefully. Love ya

Getting Hot, Hot, Hot (plus the last two weeks' letters)

So this week it started getting pretty warm, nature has pleasantly reminded me of what sweat really is again. We've been on bikes this week so things were pretty sweaty.

This week was pretty good. We did a lot of bussing, biking, walking, and sitting waiting for busses, or trying to run after busses that came a little too early, and so on and so forth. I don't know what was up with this week but, we just didn't seem to have any time. It seemed to just slip out of our fingers. We were able to see James a few times this week and he is doing great. We had two lessons with him this week and set his girlfriend and daughter on BD for July 29th, we're pretty excited for them. James and his daughter, Samajay, came to church yesterday too! They really liked it, especially Samajay (James was falling asleep throughout the whole thing, he had a rough night). He told me that when I get transferred he's going move to where I get transferred to. I really like the guy and hope he is able to sort out his life and be baptized, I'll be so excited for him. 

We had exchanges this week and I went on exchange with Elder Haycock. He came to Harrisburg with me, we had a pretty good time. 

Elder Ashton found his favorite member group. We went to dinner this week with a family and he and the father of the family talked the whole time about RPG games and how the ward has a group of guys that get together and play them on certain nights. I'll have to make sure to really keep track of him on those nights, make sure he doesn't just disappear😂. 

So yeah, things are going well here in Harrisburg, I'm still alive, nice and sweaty, but alive. 

So...we have to find someone to help us today by taking us out shopping, the missionaries that share the car with us managed to get the car towed, so.....today's going to be an adventure. We might just have to take the bus to go shopping, we'll see. 

Love y'all, hope you have a great week!

15 May – Transfer week

So I sent off Elder Bollschweiler this week. I got Elder Ashton. He's an interesting dude, he's really smart, and has gained almost as much weight as I did in his mission, I'm not alone! He comes from Utah and has basically taken over the area. He kind of reminds me of the guy in the Best Two Years, the new Elder. He is a really good guy. It seems like this week was really long. 

Well, the Skype call was great, the week upcoming will be great love y'all!

8 May – So not much time

So sorry, but this email will be short. We are having one last zone activity and saying goodbye to people. So we got transfer news. Elder Bollschweiler is leaving to go to Mt. Airy. I'll miss the kid. I am getting Elder Ashton. Elder Christensen is leaving too, I'll miss him too, I probably won't see him before he goes home. This week was good, we biked a lot and I wiped Elder Bollschweiler out. We biked hard. I also went on exchanges with Elder Christensen for the last time. It was pretty fun. We didn't take any pictures though. We did go to lunch with John Yang from Newton-Conover. I used to work with him. He's a cool guy. We went and got PHO. 

Anyways, I'll let you know more next week. Love Y'all!

Yo Yo Yo

Hey y'all, how are all y'all? I'm doing just fine here in the great state of NC, this week it started to get warmer and a lot more humid. Elder Bollschweiler is having a fun time with it😀. 

Things this week were alright. We did service at Habitat for Humanity Restore. We usually do it weekly. 

We had zone conference on Friday, and that was fun. It was a good meeting. After the meeting we went on exchanges. 

Elder Haycock came with me to Harrisburg and we went to the ward chili cook off. It was really good. Elder Bollschweiler was not happy that he missed it, and verbalized it very strongly to all of the members we have seen since. It was a silent auction too, which was cool because the members at our table got some cool desserts that they shared with us. We had a fun, but short exchange, the next day at about noon we exchanged back and ate at Taco Bell. 

We had a pretty fun day today, we had a zone activity where we split into two different teams and went on a scavenger hunt in Uptown. It was fun. I'll send some pictures.

Scavenger Hunt Group

It it pouring right now, Elder Bollschweiler and I got soaked just from taking the groceries inside from the car. We'll see what we are able to do tonight in the rain, we just started bike week! Yay! Woah, lightning just struck pretty close, my ears are now ringing from the thunder. I'm gonna send this before the power goes out, I don't have much more to talk about anyways.

Love Y'all! Have a great week!

A week that flew by

Man, this week went by real quickly, I can barely remember it. Tuesday was kind of rough at first. We biked around all day. I remember saying that I've never had problems with my bike, but Tuesday changed that. I put my bike on the bus bike rack and after the bus ride, I took it off and the back tire was completely flat -- no air whatsoever. I guess the tube had just worn out so I'm gonna have to get a new one. When I got the flat we were right next to Walmart, so we went inside to find a tube, but I guess my bike is a little special because it has hybrid tires. It has tubes the size of a mountain bike, but instead of the standard valve it has a presta valve, so Walmart does not have that sort of tube. So I had to borrow Elder Christensen's bike for the rest of the week. 

That night was good though. Our WML came out with us that night and we visited James McRae and his kids. He is a great guy and his kids are really funny and smart. We had a great lesson with him and we also saw him on Thursday and read some of the Book of Mormon with him. Both were great lessons, so we're pretty excited about him. 

Wednesday we went to district meeting and I gave a training on the Book of John. President had us read the whole book of John before Easter, and so I was asked to go over some of the highlights for me. I really like John because it feels a lot more personal than the other three gospels and he really emphasizes God's love for us and how we can show our love to him. 

So other than riding around on my borrowed bike, I also rode around with a borrowed helmet. Last week I had the helmet on my bike, on the car rack, and when we parked and got out of the car, the helmet was gone. So right now I am using Elder Everrett's, because he's not using it anymore. A couple weeks ago he decided to go  home 🙁. I guess his anxiety got to him too much or something like that, kind of a bummer. 

That takes us into Friday. Friday was pretty hot and was going pretty slow. Elder Bollschweiler was complaining about how hot it was and I just think about the summer that is yet to come and I hope he does okay. That night we went to a rodeo! That's right, a rodeo. I guess the Zone Leaders had signed us up to do some service at the local rodeo. Our job was to direct cars. It was crazy. I had not idea that there would be so many people in NC coming to a rodeo. Friday night was packed then we did it again Saturday night, and the people there had  made some extra room for more parking and we still had to stuff the place full. It was two crazy nights of running around and directing cars. It was pretty fun. 

Elder B and Elder Huff after some rainy biking

Saturday night it started raining and it has not stopped since. Luckily we had a member come out with us yesterday so we didn't have to bike in it and today we get the car! Yes! It's not supposed to stop raining until tomorrow morning. So we'll probably be in the church all day long playing basketball, that's usually what we do anyways. 

Well, that's about the week. It was pretty good, and crazy as always. Hopefully y'all have a great week! Love ya!

What a Week!

This week was pretty good. We weren't super successful missionary work-wise, but weeks like that happen, we just gotta get the rebound and do well this next week. This week as pretty fun. Actually, I can't remember much except for the exchange I had with one of my old buddies, Elder Christensen. He and I used to go on exchange all the time when I was in Concord, and we went on one this week. I went over to the Reedy Creek area on Friday. Friday morning we had a zone service project where we helped some people set up a parking lot for a rodeo. It was pretty fun, but there wasn't enough work for all of us to be working real hard, but it turned out well. After that we exchanged. We had one of the young men from the Reedy ward come out with us all day long. He was a good sport, we biked him all over the place and he was on a pretty dumpy bike and he didn't issue a word of complaint. Biking as a missionary is something to get used to. We go hard to get places on time, and we were surprised how well he kept up. We had Subway sandwiches together then that night we biked through the McDonald's drive through, that's right, we went through the drive through on our bikes, it was pretty funny and definitely a first. We got some shakes, took a selfie with the drive through people, and gave them a card.

Then we biked home. After Hunter left, Elder Christensen and I stayed up for a long time talking, a really long time. We had a lot to talk about since it had been a whole year and some change since we went on exchange, a lot has happened since then. We stayed up too late, then the AP's picked us up really early and we went and played basketball against the Charlotte South elders. We were so beat. Between us staying up late, and getting up so early, we got about 2 hours of sleep. But luckily, I was able to get through the next day without any problems and I was still able to work hard. 

The next morning we were knocking some doors in an apartment complex and we were walking up a set of stairs and we saw three tiny little kittens, they were so cute and just all alone. We got a couple good pictures with them. We had district meeting on Wednesday and that was pretty good, except for the fact that I was dying. I don't know why, but Tuesday night I got really sick and was throwing up all night. So Wednesday I was drained. It was a rough day, but I felt better the next day. Well, that was about the week! Love y'all!

A Week in the Life of Harrisburg

Charlotte Central 'Ranch' (Zone)

So this week was pretty good. I actually rode a bike for the first time in three months, and now I remember why I liked buses a whole lot better than riding bikes. You know, when you bike across your area to get to an appointment, and you arrive, and you're all tired and sweaty, then you go up and knock on the door...and wait...knock again...wait some more...call them...no answer...then you are so happy, because you wasted your time and energy biking to an appointment that fell through, bummer. Oh well, I keep telling Elder Bollschweiler, "its all in the life of a missionary." I mean, sure stuff like that bugs me, but I've come to learn you just gotta roll with the punches and be happy about getting slugged in the gut a couple times, it'll only strengthen your abs, right? 

Anyways, looking back on the week, it was actually kind of a rough week, but it ended well, so I guess that's what really matters. Last Sunday our car kind of had a fit, so we had to take it to Firestone on Monday, and the Firestone guy told us it was a leaking water pump, and we had to get that fixed at the dealer. So Monday we had to show up at the dealership without an appointment, turn in our car, then wait until they could squeeze it into the schedule and fix it. It took about two and a half hours of us sitting in the waiting room before the car was fixed, so that took a big chunk out of the day. Oh well, we had some extra time to study I guess. We then had to turn around and give the fixed car to the other Elders, and bike the rest of the day, and week. It's pretty hard to bike here in this area, right outside of our apartment complex is a pretty big highway. We still bike on it occasionally when we need to, but we try and avoid it. 

Wednesday was kind of crazy. That was the day we biked to the missed appointment, and while we were biking home, it started raining, really hard. By the time we got home we were soaked, chilled, and muddy. Then that night we walked to the church in the rain, but luckily we didn't get as wet. We had a lesson at the church with a guy named Kelly and then played some basketball with the young men while we were waiting for the Bishop cuz we had a meeting with him that night. The meeting went well, our ward mission leader and bishop are both extremely on top of things, but they are also pretty critical, especially the bishop. So we have to make sure to remember everything he wants us to do, I've got to start writing things down. 

Thursday was super windy and muddy because of all the rain the previous day. We biked down the highway to go do service at Habitat for Humanity. It's a fun place to do service. Friday we had zone meeting and president showed up, it was a pretty good meeting. Saturday stunk. I woke up in the morning, was feeling fine, then got up ate breakfast, then I threw it back up. I felt sick all day long so we just had to stay in the apartment all day long. Those are the worst days on the mission. 

Sunday was good though. Bishop asked me to give a talk and so that's what I spent my sick day doing, I was preparing it. I gave the talk and I think I did pretty well. Since it was the first time I attended sacrament meeting in Harrisburg it was a good opportunity to introduce myself. I got a lot of complements on the talk afterwards and I even had a lady ask for a copy of my talk...strange. We also helped teach Young Men during third hour and that went really well as well. After church we biked around all day, and didn't have much luck. We are right next to the UNCC campus, so we have a lot of good college kids sticking their heads out the window and yelling at us. Yesterday while we were biking, some guy stuck his head out the window and screamed, "God does not exist!" I just chuckled and kept biking because obviously, God does exist. I just feel sorry for people who don't believe that. Last night we found some guy from Africa and his wife. They seem pretty interested and I look forward to teaching them. They were the last thing we did last night and was able to make our new investigator goal, which makes me happy. 

Well, that's the week. It was kind of rough but it ended well! Love y'all!

The week of DOOOMM!! (part 57,839)

(from 3 April)

It is so hard to believe that just a week ago I was emailing from my last ward, Mountain

Island. It's been a long week, not a bad week, just a long week. Monday we finished out the day by having dinner with the Handys, then I went home and finalized packing. The next morning we got up and got ready to leave.

I gave Elder Toone all the keys and passes and stuff, then the Boones came and picked us up and drove us to Salisbury, where we transferred. A recent convert from the Harrisburg ward picked me up, we loaded everything in his car, then drove to my new area. Harrisburg is pretty close to my last ward. I live right off of a street that we lived right next to in my last area and I've noticed a lot of the same roads. This area is a weird shape, it's really long side to side, but north to south it's real short. I can tell this ward has had a hard time with past missionaries. They aren't nearly as friendly or bubbly towards missionaries as any of my other wards. Then again, that could just be the people that I've had dinner with this week, idk. 

Anyways, we have a pretty nice apartment that is known as the mission hub. We have two senior couples and a set of sisters in the complex. We are really close to the senior missionaries. It's kind of fun. We don't have any sisters in the ward, but the YSA sisters are in our complex so that's why it's called the  mission hub. 

The work is pretty good, we were able to find two new investigators this week, so we're excited about that. This week I biked for the first time in three months. In Mountain Island we just bussed everywhere. I'm proud to say I still got it! I've got got a mountain bike and I'm still faster than my new companion, Elder Bollschweiler (yeah I know, it's a mouthful). He just got finished training, so he's real new. It's kind of funny to see some of his reactions to things and it reminds me of what I used to be like when I first came out. I am so much different now, I feel like a changed person. Being the first time having a companion this young it's kind of different. Our form of conversation is different. With all the other missionaries I've served around we've been out similarish amounts of time so we would talk all about the mission and the other Elders and Sisters and we have inside jokes, but  Elder Bollschweiler doesn't quite get those yet. 

But General Conference tho!!! So good! I have ever never appreciated general conference like I have here on my mission. We were able to watch it at the church for the first four sessions then watch the last one at a member's home, our ward mission leader. I do have to say, the people in this ward might not be the most friendly, but our ward mission leader is great! He is one of the best ward mission leaders I've had on my mission. 

We had a good lunch between sessions on Saturday. We were at the church and a member family was there too. Right after the session, they invited us to go get pizza with them. So a big group of missionaries went with them and they paid for three HUGE pizzas. I mean, these pizzas were ginormous. Each slice in the pizza was bigger than a Costco size slice. There were 12 of us and we couldn't finish three pizzas and I stuffed myself. Anyways, I found out that they were in the University City ward. Bummer. They are cool. 

Well, we had our first district meeting on Friday, we have an interesting district. We have the district leader, who is companions with the Zone Leaders right now, we have the APs in our district, as well as the Sister Training leaders, then there's Elder Bollschweiler and I. Every missionary in that district has been out over a year except Elder Bollschweiler. Hmm, so it's an interesting dynamic. 

Well, this week was good, hopefully next week will be great. Love Y'all!