July 23, 2012 - Crazy and Odd Adventures of Eldon

So this week has a few odd stories and a few fun ones as well. First off, lets talk pictures. The first two pictures are of a mug that we and the Lebanon elders made at a members house in Lebanon. The member has the most interesting stamp that I wanted to use, and that stamp was of the Pillsbury dough boy! As most of you know, I am obsessed with rolls. So I figured that a roll themed mug would be appropriate. Oh and for the untrained eye I also added a belly button to the dough boy, now the dough boy is not son of none, but has loving and caring parents, instead of just being ripped and formed from an old loaf of sourdough bread. Much more child friendly. This was made a few weeks ago and I just recently got the mug back from being fired and painted.

 Next we have a picture of us and the Osage beach elders (the near by elders) at a cool restaurant in their area, that has board games under the glass of each table. and while we were there I looked over and who did i see a picture of!?!?! My daddy. That's mission lingo for trainer. Apparently he served in Osage beach AND he ate the Big Kahuna. So he must have been a cool guy. After we ate we went to a place called Haha Tonka. Apparently that means, Haha river in native American. Yep super creative. At Haha Tonka there is an old burnt down castle that was ade about 100 years ago and then burnt down shortly after its completion. All that remains is the stone. During my investigation of the castle I found that there were two distinct entrances, in the picture in the next email is of me going into the servant entrance. I bet that was one way to make sure the servants didn't eat too much and not be able to fit into the entrance.

So now for the odd and the strange. So this week we learned that a member of the branch works at a funeral home and we got the whole tour. And guess what we found? Dead people. I increased the number of dead people I have ever seen by 3 this week. Now I am up to a total of 3 people. I even watched the member move one of the dead bodies into a casket. That was the oddest sight I have ever seen. He also showed us the room where the bodies are prepped for viewing and I have to say, I never wanted to know what happens in that room and all the different tools they used, but some things you just can't unsee. Yep. Dead people. And the member also asked us to help dress dead Mormons (if they ever have to pick up one of those) into temple clothing if they can wear that...... lets just hope that never happens while I am here.

We have been doing lots of door knocking this week trying to get more investigators but not with much luck. We were able to teach Adam and Mike lessons this week (Adam is a member referral and Mike is a kind of a member referral) so that was way nice. This Sunday elder maurer and I decided to do a fast in an attempt to get the missionary work going in the area, and on that day alone we had 5 lessons, more than doubling our total lessons for the rest of the week. That was awesome. What do ya know, fasting works. I guess the things I am teaching are true. What a coincidence, God isn't a liar. Well it was a fun experience to do, we did a little amount of studying on fasting before we did it on sunday and I feel like I have a basic understanding of the laws behind it now. The scriptures say to fast oft, but never says how often. So I guess do it when ever you want to help other people.

And now for a thought has has been in my head for a while. 1 Nephi 3: 3-5.  I am sure that you will recall that all 4 sons of Lehi went to get the plates of brass. You will notice in vs 3 that Laman and Lemuel did not say they would not do it. In fact they did go back to Jerusalem. The difference is that Lamen and Lemuel said, "GARRR!!! but dad!! it is gunna be hard!!!! why!!!!!!" and Lehi was all like, "hey! i didn't ask it of you, God did." and Nephi was all like, "I will go and do it because God said to do it. I know it is not you telling me to do this but God. and God will provide a way for all things to be done" well there. Attitude is everything. We all need to try and be like Nephi, how often are we more like Laman and Lemuel, they always did exactly what was required of them, but they did it with an angry face the entire time. Now Nephi did it with a smile. Lets be like nephi.