Meet Me In St Louis: Exchanges fur Days (Jan 26th 2017)

Hello, everyone. I am emailing earlier this week because we are going up to St. Louis to the Temple. It should be pretty fun. We had an awesome week this week lots of things happened that were really positive.

Monday was fun we had the whole day to ourselves because we didn't have to email because it was Martin Luther King Jr day so we were able to grab groceries pretty quick and then go to buffalo wild wings because one of the missionaries had a gift card. So when it came time to pay the check, someone in buffalo wild wings paid for our check and wanted to stay anonymous. I am always surprised and humbled when people do that for us. After eating Buffalo Wild Wings we went down to the church and played basketball with some members who brought nonmembers to come play it was really fun. Not the same as playing basketball at the high school, though.

Tuesday we emailed in the morning then we had the Poplar Bluff Elders come up and spend the day with is it was a good day we had a lot of fun. I had Elder Thomson with me. We went and saw a lady named Jenifer who is a less active lady in a small town in Ullin Illinois. It was a good drive but well worth it. We came and talked with her and she has a 10-year-old girl who is really smart and nice but isn't baptized yet and we have been calling everyone trying to find people like her and we did so she wants to be baptized it was the first of many blessings this week. we also saw Ben he is a good guy we had some chili at his house and were able to talk with him for a little bit about the church. He is a good guy and fun to talk with.

Wednesday had district meeting and it was a wonderful District meeting. After District meeting, we had an exchange with the Carbondale Elders. Elder Atkin and Elder Zollinger. Elder Atkin is from Mesa, Az. We had a great exchange we went and saw Alecia a recently baptized member and talked with her about the tree of life. It was a good gospel discussion. After seeing Alecia we went and saw the Green family, they don't go to church very often plus we don't know too many people so we went and saw them and talked about patience with them. Then we came back and had Smash Tacos a specialty of mine and Elder Hermann's. We love making them and everyone who eats them gets addicted so we make them often for people. After eating dinner together Elder Atkin and I went back out and tried to see some people. We were unable to see anyone but we had a good discussion about what to do in certain situations.

Thursday we had Kerri Brown in the morning Elder Hermann and I went to that appointment together we discussed with her that she has a loving Father in Heaven. We are trying to help her stop smoking. Kerri is funny she calls us and texts us as early in the morning as possible we get calls from her at like 6 am. After Kerri we had the Farmington Elders come with us we had Elder Black and Elder Vindas with us. I had Elder Black this time. We tried a few former investigators and potentials and had a lesson with James McNew our recent convert. We read some stories from the Bible like the story of Daniel and King Nebuchadnezzar's Dream and also Isiah 29. After seeing James we had the opportunity to go see the Sparks family to discuss the needs of the missionary work in the area. We had Chili dogs and Brownies. It was a good time being with them and after we had correlation we went down to the church and cleaned it and prepared it for ZLT the next day.

Friday we had ZLT but before we had ZLT we had everyone come down and have weekly planning at the church. It was good to discuss what they were struggling with in weekly planning and how to help them. After speaking with them we had ZLT. It went wonderfully the Sisters talked on Obedience and we had the chance to talk about everyone's needs in weekly planning and help give them insights. After ZLT we had the chance to do our weekly planning and it was short lived we had a lesson with Libin. Libin is from China and is studying science. He is a wonderful guy but also super analytical. He likes to discuss science. Thank goodness I have Elder Hermann who loves science. We brought Sister Bradley with us. Libin is usually a little stubborn but something about having Sister Bradley with us really humbled him and he didn't look to argue he looked to learn it was amazing he just needed a little womanly touch. Bringing members to lessons is powerful and can really turn the situation in a more positive light.

Saturday we went to a baptism at the church for someone that the other missionaries have been teaching. There was also an excommunicated person re-baptized which was really awesome but the coolest part was, the excommunicated nonmember father who is about 65 or 70 got up after his son was re-baptized and said "This is one of the nicest places I have ever been ever minute I have someone coming up to me welcoming me to the church building, I too believe that Baptism by immersion is the correct way of baptizing and so with that said I will see to it that me and my wife are baptized and I pray that we are" I was stunned. It was the coolest thing I had ever heard. After the baptism, we went up to or more like went down to Cairo Illinois to see a lady there and we got there and she had 13 Ferrets. They are like a long rat it was cool but kind of gross at the same time. We talked with her for a little bit and then we drove back to Cape. We got a call from the Priest quorum wanting us to go play basketball because there would be a nonmember person down there. So we decided to play and it was some good ball some of the most exhausting b-ball I have played in a long time it felt like I was conditioning for the beginning of the season. We met the nonmember and talked with him for a little bit he was a good guy and of course, we got to play basketball how could I resist.

Sunday we had church and we had a great sacrament meeting it was on forgiveness. We taught 2nd hour it was on the freedom to choose it was a good lesson we had a full classroom. After church, we went back to the apartment and we finished up our weekly plan and went to the Perkins for dinner. They are awesome I love that family. Both Converts and they are straight country people. They live on the outside of Cape Girardeau on back roads. So we knew it was safe to burn my 18 months pants as we were burning the pants I and Elder Hermann stepped in Dog poop it wasn't funny we had to drive with the windows down the whole way home.

Monday we had Poplar Bluff 2 come up with us for exchanges and I had Elder Gillette with me, and no he does not sell razors. We had a good exchange and had dinner at the Thompson's it was a good dinner they had some nonmembers there. We met a man named Cletus that day he was about in his late 70s and just a pure bred red neck but the nicest guy ever he was really cool.

This week was a great week we have been working really hard to find people to work with and our Heavenly Father is hearing our prayers and is pouring blessings upon us. This week especially I have been feeling more and more the guidance of the spirit. There are people to see and only a limited amount of time now. As Ezra Taft Benson says “The secret to missionary work is work, work, work" Got to show Heavenly Father real intent and he will bless you beyond measure. Have a wonderful week. I know this email is coming late I didn't get the chance to finish on Tuesday we were driving back late from the temple we had a 2 and a half hour trip to St. Louis. I love you all.

Love,

Elder Washburn