16 March 2015

Finally a GOOD week!!! Didn't start off amazing, but it ended up being great anyways!! So we went to Moxie's last p-day again. Like literally everyone was telling me how it doesn't matter if we go. They were all saying how pres. knows and doesn't care, and member's take us there sometimes too, and all this crap. But like honestly, it doesn't matter. It still isn't the greatest place in the world for missionaries, and that's all that matters. After that though, we stayed at the ZLs apartment for the night, and they had a chess set, so me and Keck played, and I beat his BUTT!!! haha Then later, more people got there, and I played someone else, and destroyed him too!! He kept asking how I was so good and how does he get better. haha! Tuesday was zone training which wasn't too bad. Then we went to sushi and tai again, and it was flippin gay. Like when we got there, they were all sitting at a much smaller table than last time, and there was only two seats left. When we came over, Elder Mackey (the douche I told y'all about) was like, "oh hate to break it to you guys, but those are for the sisters". So we sat by ourselves the whole time and no one joined us... Like seriously?? But whatever, I'm still alive and kicking. But later on, back in Brooks, we had dinner at bishop's house and had splits after with the elders' quorum. I went with brother Vary, and Keck went with brother Blumel. Brother Vary is so cool!!!! He is only 26 and acts like seriously exactly like me and it's hilarious!! We got along flippin great, and later on, Keck even said that we looked like we would have gotten along. Haha! But at one of the houses we dropped by, there was only a couple Mexicans outside working on a truck, and when we asked in English if the person we were looking for was there, and they didn't understand. So I was like crap, they probably speak Spanish.... "¿Hablan español?" "¡Oh, sí, sí!" So, by myself, I asked if the person lived there, they replied and said no, he probably lived there before one of them (one of them lived there they also told me), and I understood like exactly what they said and they understood me, and I was the only one who spoke Spanish besides them!!! So yeah, I'm super glad I was able to do that by myself :) On Wednesday we found an investigator!!! Her name is Rebekah, she's from Congo, speaks french, and has only been up here for 7 months!! She invited us straight in when we got there, and she went and grabbed a bible once we were sitting on her couch. She said that she actually was pretty acquainted with the "LDS" church, but had never heard of "Mormons" until she got here. People also tell her we aren't Christians, which was also something she hasn't heard until she got to Canada. So we explained the nickname and how people just don't like us for some reason, so they make up lies to deceive other people. But she was super cool and really friendly! Thursday we went on exchanges and I got Elder Rodriguez. We got along so well!!! He's got a crazy inactive background, but he's super solid now and determined to do right and serve a good mission. We didn't get a WHOLE lot done, but we met with Ashui (a recent convert who speaks very little English), and it went great!! She received everything perfectly and was super attentive. I also found how great of a testimony she has. Her only concerns are that she has trouble paying her 10% to God (tithing) because of everything she has to already pay (i.e. for kids, parents, school, etc.). Like if everyone had a testimony like that and had that much of a desire to keep the commandments, that would be flippin amazing! Friday we went to DQ with the Blumels, and it taste so different!!! Like the seasoning on the chicken was way bland compared to back home, and the BBQ sauce was way gross!! I also discovered recently that like pork-n-beans are like the most popular thing up here. As in, that's the only kind they even sell in Walmart (which sucks up here)!!! And no one has ever heard of "ranch style beans", which are my favorite!!! :( And also, when we were tracting, this group of 3 black girls followed us around telling me I looked like human Ken (like barbie doll Ken. Look it up, I have no clue), and asking how many plastic surgeries I had to look like I do, and they were like messing around and kept saying that I was hot and stuff and whatever... It was weird!!! They seriously followed us for half an hour saying stuff like that. We just left after a while and they like followed us (basically just me really. They kept like getting in my way) until I drove off like as fast as I could. HAHA!!! On Saturday we didn't have a lot of success. The absolute best part though is that we got Rebekah to Ben Blumel's baptism!!! She missed the actual thing, but she was there in time to see his sister give a talk and see his confirmation. And the closing song was "Follow the Prophet", and for the last 2 verses, she sang the chorus, which was awesome!!! So she liked that, and she had actually also brought a friend with her!! At one point, she was asking how she could serve a mission like us, and she wanted to get her friend into the "ministry". But they met and talked with bishop, and it was super flippin awesome!!! And on Sunday, she came to church!!! In gospel doctrines class, we just taught the first lesson (the restoration). She took it all pretty well, but the only thing she didn't quite believe, was the Great Apostasy. But hopefully in time she'll warm up to the idea :) Not much else after church until after dinner when we had a lesson with a less active. His name is Hakeem, and he's also from Congo, but has been here for 10 years. But he was so awesome. We taught him about the Atonement and read him the scripture 2 Nephi 9:7. I did most of the explaining, because honestly, Keck doesn't do a very good job at it. But we explained how why the atonement is necessary, because we WILL sin, and how it's infinite, and we can use it any time we want because we will never not sin, and God put it there so we could repent and keep trying our best. But I explained like most of it, and when we were done and answered all his questions, he said thank you so much for coming by and how thankful he is that we talked about that scripture specifically. He was so awesome and understood like all of it. So I'm sure if we keep working with him, we could get him back out to church :) But have been working pretty hard, and I'm glad it's finally paying off and we're finding people to teach and reactivate and help change for the better. Thanks to all you guys for all the prayers and support. I'm so glad to be in this service and change peoples lives and show them true happiness. I hope all you guys are doing great and being great member missionaries ;) I'll talk to you guys next week!! Love, Elder Levi Windham p.s. I've been forgetting to tell you guys, but up here, they don't have the letter Z... It's pronounced Zed!! Isn't that weird?? Also, the garbage disposal? Yeah, they call that a garberator. Haha!! Just some funny things they do up here :P