Week 22, 23 & 24

Buenas tardes everyone! Sorry for getting behind on my weekly updates 😔😅 This one's is going to also make up for the past two weeks that I missed, so it'll cover June 23-July 13, so you'll get some juicy highlights from three weeks, instead of just one!

~~~~~~~~ Week 22 ~~~~~~~~

So we had a Zone Conference where we received some training on finding people, planning thoroughly - aka "excogitating", and more! But the day before, I was asked to prepare a special musical number for the conference. So I did what anyone would do... I winged it jajajaja! I played an arrangement of "I Believe In Christ" and "Abide With Me" on the spot and got a thumbs up from the Mission President so I guess it wasn't awful wooo!

On the topic of music, I've been making arrangements of some hymns and posting them on Facebook for your enjoyment, so if you have any song requests, lemme know and I'll arrange something just for YOU!

We also had some super good food this week as well! There is an Hermana in my area that's from Perú and brought us an *authentic* Peruvian dish; I've never wanted to go to Perú more after eating that food. Elder Chelson is also a professional cook at this point, and he made some BOMB sweet 'n sour chicken. We also live in the same apartment complex as some Hermanas Misioneras, and one the Hermanas, who got reassigned from La República Dominicana, made us an authentic dish as well, and that was super good too! Imma be fat by the time I get home jaja

We had a lesson with a recent convert to the church, and we reviewed some topics with her. When I asked her, "How do you feel that you are a daughter of God?", she told us, "Like a princess." And now I think that I finally understand why every Hermana Misionera calls their investigators cute, cause that was pretty gosh darn cute.

~~~~~~~~ Week 23 ~~~~~~~~

Another wave of reassigned missionaries came into the mission on June 30th, so we received two more missionaries into our humble abode - Elder Kennedy got reassigned from Mexico last transfer, and got his newly reassigned missionary from Paraguay, Elder Dorotheo. They are both super duper cool and funny and make great additions to the apartment. Elder Dorotheo is actually from Buena Park, California, and lives like 5 minutes away from Knott's Berry Farm!

And probably the biggest highlight of the week was that I solved a Rubik's Cube for the first time ever! I've always been too lazy to put in the effort to learn how to solve one, but Elder Dorotheo brought one and taught me all the algorithms and it ain't too hard. Catch me in the Guinness Book of World Records for fastest Rubik's Cube solver pretty soon 😉

This week was also the Fourth of July, and we had an all-day preparation day to celebrate! We got together as a zone, had an action-packed water balloon fight, and finished with some suuuuper delicioso crock-pot cooked ribs. To end the night, Elders Chelson, Dorotheo, Kennedy and I pulled some chairs out onto the balcony, and enjoyed the firework show, and BOY does Utah go all out for the Fourth of July! There wasn't a second that passed without a firework in the sky, and some near-by neighbors were lighting off the BIG ones (that would probably be illegal back in California 🤤). This truly was a "Saturday night is for the boys" moment in the books.

~~~~~~~~ Week 24 ~~~~~~~~

So this week was pretty spooky. More and more businesses are opening up and people are starting to let their guard down, and consequently, the number of Corona cases spiked up big time. One of reassigned missionaries that came in with Elder Dorotheo actually got diagnosed with the Corona Virus, and the mission... went... WILD! A bunch of missionaries went to get tested, and the piano accompanist in choir tested positive as well soooo.... there's a possibility that I have Corona since my roommate is a reassigned missionary and I'm the other choir accompanist 😱. After a few days, though, it was a false alarm.

We also have transfers on Tuesday, and for the first time in my mission, not much is changing - same companion, same area, same apartment, same roommates, same calling! The only big change is that I'm gonna be a trainer!!! That's right, I'm getting a greenie... and I'm gonna be a DAD! His name is Elder Lamb, and he'll be coming into the field the second week of the transfer, July 20th! Also my district is more than doubling in size, and half of the missionaries in it are going to be greenies... so I can't tell if I'm more hyped or stressed, but we'll see what happens!

But that's been my life these past three weeks! Sorry for getting this email out so late, and for dumping all of my life on you in one email. But I hope all of you have been healthy and well! I love you all!

Elder Terry

Fotos:

1-3) Eatin' goood