I found this beautiful Willy Wonka mushroom and thought I would try it:
It was disgusting!
I quickly spit it out, but the damage was already done. I've been
sick all week, and I've been able to manage, but it keeps getting worse.
I've got these weird hive things, and I've got an appointment in
Anchorage later today. Hopefully he can help me. I know it was stupid,
but I thought I was protected from stuff like that since I'm a
missionary!
It's great here in Alaska. Its beautiful.
First
day: After arriving in Anchorage, we drove to the mission office where
we had dinner, and about five minutes to email family. After that we
went to the mission home, had a testimony meeting that was awesome, and
then we went to bed. The next day we found out where we were assigned,
and who our companions were with. President Robinson made it a huge
thing, and it was pretty fun. There was a map of Alaska on the wall, and
with a fishing pole we had to point at where we thought we might be
called. The trainers were there, and we went one at a time. One person
got up and pointed, then they were told who their companion was, then
their companion took the pole with them and pointed where they were
actually going. Lots of pictures. Kinda cheesy but still fun!
New missionaries aren't called greenies here, they
are called cheechakos. Not quite sure how to spell it. You pronounce it
Chee-Cha-Ko. Its a native term for new people or something like that.
My companion is Elder Nichols, and he is a fun guy. A
little queer, but we get a long great. He knows what he is doing. I am
serving in Palmer Alaska, in the Pioneer Peak ward. We are white washing
the area right now. That means both missionaries were sent to different
areas, and we are going in blindly. There are pros and cons to it. Lots
of pros, because we get to figure out things together. The missionaries
didn't know that they were both leaving, so they didn't leave us very
many good notes. I also wish we could sit down with those missionaries
before they leave to their next area so that they can explain whats
going on. But thats okay, we have the Lord on our side. We are still
trying to get our feet on the ground, but slowly and surely we are
figuring things out.
The ward we are in is awesome! Very missionary
minded! We are super excited to serve in this ward. People really are
awesome here. Best ward yet that I've served in. We get fed every night
which is such a blessing. I wasn't served fish until Saturday.
There was a tuna casserole. They didn't tell us what it was, but I
suspected it was fish. I ate a good serving, and was really proud of
myself. I thought, "Hey! I can do this! That tasted a lot like chicken!"
Later I found out that it was canned tuna. Darn. Its not going to be
that easy. Last night we had an amazing dinner. We went over to the
Bigelow family, and we were fed Fish and Chips. It was so delicious.
Sister Bigelow HATES fish, but she loves halibut. I told them that my
papa is going to be super jealous when he finds out that I had FRESH
fish and chips. Yummy :)
Alaskans are funny people. They are definitely
really different. They do things different. Almost every home has at
least two dead cars on their yard. Most of the time there are more. One
time I counted 16 dead cars on someones property.
They are very much republican. They also love their guns. I saw a
shirt that had a picture of two guns, and it said, "Keep Calm and Carry
On". That was a pretty funny joke off of the original saying.
We have an investigator named Sabrina. She is 26.
The first day we were in the area we went and got to know her. She told
us that we are the best missionaries ever. She loves that we treat her
as a person and not a number. I asked her if we could send her
cheerleader scriptures every morning, and she obliged. As always, it was
a hit. She sent us this text this morning:
"I've started sharing your cheer scriptures with my teenage cousin
in Minnesota who has been struggling really hard with depression. After I
talked to him yesterday about it I told him how praying has helped me
and thought the scriptures you have shared with me might help him."
Awesome!!
Our second lesson with her went
awesome. We focused around the Book of Mormon. She has been reading,
and she told us that she can definitely see it being true, except for
one part. She had a hard time with Nephi being commanded to kill Laban. I
asked her what she thought, and told her that we will study it with
her. I told her I didn't know the answer to her question, but as we all
studied it together we would figure it out. Elder Nichols suggested
reading the footnotes, and we did so. I asked her questions that would
lead her to figuring out the answer. It was awesome. We all learned, and
we have definitely built her trust. Elder Nichols is kinda quiet during
lessons, so he is comfortable with me doing most of the talking. He is a
convert as of two years ago, and he is brilliant. He knows so much
about the gospel. Its awesome. He is a great trainer for me.
Yesterday at church, Sabrina came to all three
hours. During the second hour, as we were standing with her, she was
bragging to one of the members of how great missionaries we are. She
told him all about the lesson we had with her involving the Book of
Mormon, and really bragged on our behalf. It was great to know that we
are doing good. Other people in the ward have told us that we are their
favorite missionaries. I was confused as to why we were their favorites,
because we hadn't even met them more than twice. I asked Elder Nichols
why they tell us that, and what are we doing differently than other
missionaries? Especially since we've only been together for about a
week? He gave a great answer. He said, "I've found that the best
companionships and missionaries are those that feel the spirit together,
and take that spirit with them."
Elder Nichols is really fun. He has been carrying
around Shirt Stays/Garters for about half his mission waiting to be a
trainer so he could give it to his trainee. I've been wearing them, they
take a lot of getting used to, and I haven't got quite there yet. But
they do keep the shirt tucked in.
We live right next to the famous reindeer farm.
Everyone in Alaska knows about it.The owners are LDS. We get such a
great opportunity to volunteer there more than twice a week. We get to
train the reindeer. Its super cool. The son of the farm owners is a
hoot. He is ten and he is definitely our best friend. The first day we
were there, a pretty bad accident happened right by the farm. A horse
drawn carriage got flipped, and two people were badly injured. Every one
was running over to help, and the ten year old boy, Camden, started to
walk over there to see. I quickly ran up to him and talked to him. I
asked him if he was okay with blood. I didn't want him to be scarred,
scared, and sick. He said he's seen it in the movies, but he hasn't seen
it in real life. He looked nervous. I walked him back to Elder Nichols,
and we talked about it a little bit. I comforted him telling him that
everything will be all right. There were already ambulances there, and
there was a life flight on the way. I told him how great it is that we
have people who are doctors, and paramedics. I suggested we say a
prayer. He quickly agreed. We folded our arms and I said the prayer.
After the prayer, to distract him, we had him give us a tour of the
farm. We made sure to take care of him during the commotion. I gave him
my camera, and he took pictures of me and Elder Nichols feeding the
reindeer. He also took a selfie haha :)
The reindeer farm also has elk. So we spent one morning trying to herd two young bulls from the rest of the elk.
The
reindeer have velvet on their antlers, and right before mating season
their velvet falls off so that they can fight. This reindeer is losing
its felt.
I recently got introduced into Mormon Messages,
and I would encourage all of you to watch a couple each day.
I also forgot to say that at the MTC our district
came up with the idea to walk around and talk in gibberish. Everyone is
learning a new language, and they all say hello to other missionaries in
their language. So we started saying hello to them in our own language.
It was a lot of fun.
Another story I forgot to tell that happened in the
MTC was Elder Timmons outburst in the middle of the night. While we were
sleeping, all of a sudden he screamed in his sleep, "SHE'S REPULSIVE!"
All of us woke up and said in unison, "What?"
It was hilarious. Apparently he had a dream that there was an
extremely ugly girl going around telling people that he was stalking
her, and he had enough of it. He walked up to someone and said, "Listen
up! She's utterly repulsive!"
Alaska is beautiful. I have so much to email about, and of course I
don't have enough time.
-- Elder Garver
Oh and by the way, the whole mushroom thing was a joke. I didn't take a bite out of it, and I'm as healthy as a horse. :)
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