Week 12: Surprise Exchanges

Hey again yall! [Insert some overused line about me not being able to believe it's Monday again]! It was a pretty good week in the Alamo City. Been a bit under the weather, but I'm getting over it.

Tuesday, as the title of the email will tell you, we had exchanges...which my companion and I had both completely forgotten about. So I had to pack a bag at the speed of light and drove out to Pleasanton with our district leader, Elder Christensen! (Solid Elder, by the way). Pleasanton is much more rural than my area, and it was a lot of fun. They get to drive a truck and yes, I'm very jealous. We had four lessons set up and all of them canceled. But we had an awesome member meal and message that night which was great. 

Wednesday morning we drove back to finish the exchange and had a pretty average day. I had missed several lessons on Tuesday that I was pretty excited for, but apparently they went well so I'm happy. 

Thursday we had zone conference which was great! I like the zone conferences and general meetings and such because we get to learn stuff (hopefully) and reunite with other missionaries we may not have seen in a while. Good stuff. Oh and we get fed. That's definitely a bonus. 

Annnnd thus began the days of my sickness. It sort of started the night of exchanges really, but Friday is when it got the worst. So this day was pretty much me sleeping and cleaning and organizing etc. Not fun. I'm still not feeling 100% but boy, do I feel better.

Saturday was pretty fun. We woke up and drove out a ways for a service project for a non-member family who's house and property were badly damaged by a fire a little while back. People from all over the stake have been coming down to help them build fences and clear debris, and this time we cut up a huge scorched tree and stacked the salvageable parts for firewood. AND! Our friend Julio showed up to help too! We had invited him the night before (pretty last minute), but he came! Such a good man. 

That day we also deep cleaned our apartment with the Grofts (the couple who manages missionary housing) and this place is pretty much sparkling. We now have a no shoes rule enstated because of it haha. 

Yesterday we had church, of course, and did a bunch of stop-bys at members homes and made a whole truckload of phone calls that night. A busy but quiet day, somehow. 

And that leads us to today! Basically just been shopping and eating so far. We bought groceries at HEB and went to another boot store with our zone leaders! I haven't bought any boots yet, but you bet I'm going to later on haha. Currently just scoping things out...for now. 

Not really a spiritual thought, but I just want to plug the Gospel Topics in the gospel library app. I've started studying one topic each week and it's been really insightful. They explain a lot of things really well (a lot of pretty difficult ones too) and provide a bunch of resources to learn more. Highly recommend. 

Welp. That's pretty much all I've got for this week! Hope ya'll are doing well. This has been your favorite missionary. Signing off.

 

Love,

Elder DeWitt

 

The bois

Something horrible. And an old air filter too.

Zone conference. You just had to be there

The standard of cleanliness

Some diligent young men

Elder Christensen post exchange

A shot of apple cider vinegar to cleanse the soul