Meet Me In St Louis: One Month out . Yahoo!!!

So this week just flew by.

Monday we had P-day. We went and played ball with our zone leaders and a handful of missionaries in our mission. I balled them up. Then that night Brother Chandler fed us and he took us out to get food. So he took us to this place called Fazzi’s Bar & Grill. I ordered a one-pound burger and ate the whole thing I was shocked then he asked if we wanted to go get ice cream. Surprisingly I was still hungry so I said yes and he took us to a place much like Nielsen’s. I ate half my custard and thought I was going to explode. It was insane.

Tuesday so we taught an amazing lesson on Tuesday afternoon to Alisha one of our investigators. Her nieces were over and sat and listened to our lesson it was so cool. Sorry I forgot to mention that we are on bikes for the week we don't have the car, and we take the bus from city to city. So Alisha lives in Woodriver, which is like 10-15 minutes away from Edwardsville. So we took the bus there and back and on our way back it started to rain it was like 8 o'clock at night. It's just pouring rain. Our apartment is like a 15-minute bike ride away from the bus station. So my companion Elder Thorsen and I are riding back in the rain, it was crazy. I was just drenched when we got back it was nuts.

Wednesday we taught another lesson but we taught the lesson the gospel of Jesus Christ to Lori Maples. The lesson went great I taught most of the lesson. I don't think Elder Thorsen liked that too much because he's a chatterbox but it's whatever. The rest of the day was really hard physically but we pushed through it.

Thursday flew by we had ZLT it lasted like almost three hours but it was great. We went to an Asian buffet; it was good I just ate the things I would order at Panda Express. So my companion and I like to rap about the Gospel and stuff like that it makes things fun.

So Friday was awesome we had our weekly planning and we finished early so I took a nap. It wasn't a 30-minute nap it was a 2-hour nap I was knocked out cold it was crazy. So Thorsen woke me up and we went and tracked a neighborhood. So our dinner canceled on us last minute so we were bummed. So we kept tracking. This man who was like 5'7 started following us and we decide to turn around to say what’s up and he invited us over for dinner. Elder Thorsen and I were stunned like this never happens. So the guys name is James, he is Catholic. So we go to his house and sit down and talk to him as he prepares for dinner. Turns out he invited like 6 other people from his church for dinner as well. Elder Thorsen and I are like this could go really good or really bad. So we started eating and they begin to ask us questions about where we are from why are we serving missions and stuff. It turned out to be really good no bible bashing but while they were praying for the food they said like three amen's during the prayer and my companion said amen and were about to start eating on the second amen and they just all looked at him it was sooooo funny I was just dying inside.

Saturday was a hard day it was really hot and humid we were on bikes all the way out in Woodriver. So I shared this in my last email we picked up that new family JD and Ricky. So we came back on Saturday to meet with them and teach them one of the discussions. So JD knows a crap load about the Bible so he asked us do you want to do a little Bible study we said sure and he asked some questions we gave some answers and Thorsen just took over and really brought the spirit into the room it was awesome. Then he looked at me and said Elder Washburn is going to teach the Restoration. I couldn't have been more pumped. So we get going his cousin just moved in with them and we offered him a book of Mormon and he said I’m not reading this crap so we keep going we read the introduction to the Book of Mormon and talk about. The spirit was soooo strong it was crazy and Elder Thorsen looks JD in the eyes and says we are the only church that believes in the bible to a T and I was a little taken back then I backed him up. We were just bold and honest with him. He really liked what we taught him and what we said. Now Ricky during the entire lesson was in the back room. She comes out and is watering up and me and elder Thorsen think she was listening to the lesson and felt the spirit and was crying in the back room. The cool thing was Rex asked for a Book of Mormon at the end of the lesson.

SUNDAY so they asked me to speak about how to gain and strengthen a testimony. I guess I gave a great talk and called out the ward for not working hard enough and not doing missionary work in a nice way. It was awesome and that night we helped a member move a bunch of stuff into storage in the middle of a rainstorm. It was crazy when it thundered the whole building would shake and it was loud. So that's what I did this week. I love it out here sometimes it gets hard and you get discouraged but it’s all worth it in the end.

Love,

Elder Washburn