July 30, 2012

This last weekend, my companion and I had a little...misunderstanding. We were spending the night in Indio so's I could interpret for Eddy in the Indio ward. Indio is not close to Riverside. But it's still in the mission. Anyway, we parked across the street from the apartment at the church and walked over to get ready for bed. Elder Mercy looked at me and asked if I had the cell phone. (I never have the phone) I courteously checked my pockets and said nope. Then he said to ask the Elders we were staying with, for a code. I only translated what he signed. I asked the Elder "Do you know a code?" The Elder's natural reply: "For what?" I turned to Elder Mercy and said "For what?" Elder Mercy said "Phone" So I told the Elder: "A code for a phone" The Elder looked confused. He said "like...for a security code?" I asked Elder Mercy if that's what he meant and he said 'No" Then I said "what do you mean then?" Then he gave me this terribly nasty Jamaican glare and fingerspelled 'C-O-D-E' Then I made sure he was still talking about a code for a phone so I said "For a phone?" then he said "The number so I can get into the church and look for the phone because I think I left it in there." As soon as I saw church, I understood perfectly what he meant all along. So I asked the Elder: "What is the code to get into the church?" He gave it to us. We looked, no phone. It was in the car. That's the extent of drama while on a mission. So far. I hope it doesn't get worse than another glare.

We haven't had the GPS in the car for about a week because the sisters we borrowed it from wanted it back for a while. I found my way all over the mission without it. and without help from Elder Mercy. I felt pretty good about it. But we have it again and we are going in entirely new areas. We tracted in Redlands for some reason...It was funny actually. I knocked on the door and waited. A woman's voice was heard through the door that said "Who is it?" - "It's the missionaries!" I said in a jovial, spirited tone. Her reply, "Who is it?" (beginning to sound impatient. (much less 'jovial' this time) "It's the missionaries..." She said "I can't hear you" I could only think of one way to help her poor hearing so I told her "Answer the door!" I guess she heard me that time because she said "If I don't know who it is, I'm not going to open the door." I think she knew exactly who we were, and she was afraid of us and didn't want to talk to us. So we left, but it was funny to think about as we drove away. We were also with Elder Beaulieu (boyer) who is not really a missionary yet but he has been with us a few times now.

The muddy buddies were good thank you! I accidentally brought them to Indio (the desert) and told the elders they could have some. There were only a few crumbs left when I got it back. I sent a letter via Postal Service. Today, Pday, we normally go to the church and meet other missionaries there and play basketball or something. But today, Elder Mercy wanted to stay home and do nothing. So that's what we did. I took the time to study and write some letters, but I wish we would have gone and exercised a little.

So I finally checked out my blog! It's so cute! I love the little musical note thingy. I have been listening to the Chopin Ballades for a loooong time. I think number 4 is my fav. number 1 comes close. I always thought I liked 3 the best...but 4 is so much better. :) We should have gone shopping today. I even made a list. here it is: 2% milk 1 gallon or 2, Peanut butter, Jelly, Oatmeal, Cereal, Shoes for service or gym shoes, Stamps, batteries for the smoke detectors, canned soup, stew, ramen noods. I was going to buy lots of bread but the other day, we were given all the bread we can eat and more. We ended up giving it all away. But I still have about a loaf. And then at church, sister bernard gave us a homemade loaf. I'm still in the process of eating it. I don't think Elder Mercy wants any. We get apples from Sister Pierce, We get cherry tomatoes from sister egbert, we get figs from brother garcia, and we can have all the oranges we want from the backyard. So I guess we really can't go hungry...Oh well. I feel out of shape. I am too lazy to work out and lose a little weight. I weighed myself last week........168. I'm sooooo dang fat!!!!!! Before I went to the MTC how much did I weigh?? like 145?? whew! Anyway, I think it's good that I'm getting huge. I would rather improve from being fat than from being skinny. Ya know?

Last night we taught 4 deaf people at the same time. One man, Robert is nearly impossible to understand. His fingerspelling almost started to smoke. and he can talk a lot. Sometimes I don't know if he is asked me a question or not so I really have to pay attention. We told them the Joseph Smith story, the Lehi and his family story, and the moroni promise. Then we gave them all copies of the book of mormon and a dvd for asl. Elder Mercy told a woman that "your church is not full, you are missing things. Our church has everything and nothing is missing." I thought that was really bold and kind of rude to say. But maybe it's the Deaf culture that accepts things like that...I can't get used to that part. I hope my email can bring some entertainment to your day and some insight into the modern missionaries life. Full of complaints but never giving up. Thanks for being my family. have a nice day.

L-der Peck