If I Knew You Were Coming, I'd Have Baked You A Cake!

Hey all!

I apologize for the title having no connection to the email. It was a good quote from a good play I've seen, and it felt like a good title.

I'm going to see if it's possible to write a sub-twenty minute email on a phone!

College Studies

We've been doing our studies through the week at the 3 local colleges, going to a different one each day. We accidentally showed up to Walla Walla University on Saturday not realizing it was closed (For the sabbath ;) ). Its quite goofy how we say "Hello!" "Have a great day!" And we get a lot of blank stares from the passerby. I think we take people off guard by saying hello to them. Hopefully we help them feel seen.

Berta was getting stressed

During a lesson with Berta, we learned that she's felt very pressured by the commitments we've been extending, as if she's 'our student'. It's tough to find the balance between 'being super friendly' and 'teaching lessons'. I feel like I can do either one pretty easily, but when it comes to mixing the two, it's a different story.

Insane day with Ray, Bri, and kids on acid

We had a Wild day that I'll bullet point

-Ray

Lives in an actual shack. His friend invited us in, and then Ray immediately began quoting scriptures at us. In spanish, he said to his friend "they're going to be converted by the time im done with them". I guess he didn't figure we spoke spanish? Even though we walked in speaking Spanish? The spirit was out of there, and after being lectured for 30 minutes, so were we.

-Bri

We had an address for a member at an apartment, but when we showed up, Bri was there instead. She said "Oh yeah, he passed away 5 years ago". She lamented that we hadn't brought a third male, because she would have invited us in so we could listen to music, but she was super kind. Said about how she has only had positive interactions with missionaries. Also, she had an awesome French accent.

-Kids probably doing illegal things

The last knock of the night, we parked just a few houses down, to not be suspicious. As we got out of the car, and not 15 feet away, blood curdling, inhuman gurgling and yelling was coming from this kid. He had a bat or something, and was hitting and jumping on a car with his friends in it. I was a little concerned for my safety, for sure. If my shoes weren't tied to my feet, they would have run right out of there. "L-L-like Scoob, when they said curds, I thouht they meant, like, curds on a sandwich" "ruh roh, Raggy"

Çiao y'all!

Élder Duncan

Big expectations pre mission

A few months ago, I had heard so many stories of grand life changing spiritual experiences from other people's missions. I've quickly learned that this is not the case the majority of the time. I've learned that when the spirit speaks, for me, it's usually some idea so small or simple it's super easy to shrug off. The best way to listen to the spirit better, though, has been to act on those tiny ideas, if they're good. I like the way this puts it (in preach my gospel pg 106):

The prophet Elijah found that the voice of the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire—but was “a still small voice” (1 Kings 19:12). It is “not a voice of thunder,” but rather “a still voice of perfect mildness, as if it had been a whisper,” and yet it can “pierce even to the very soul” (Helaman 5:30).

Pizza Steve in Big Cheese. A character from a favorite show of mine, just right on the wall!

And, if you ever have the chance to come to Walla Walla, youll want to stop at Big Cheese Pizza. And then go downtown

It was not possible to write this in under 20 minutes.