Hey mom!
So this email is going to be a little bit shorter since it's only been half a week since I last emailed.
I went on exchanges again with Elder Lamunyon. His Greenie desire to work is pretty refreshing. He wants to become the best missionary that he can be. We exchanged after our Thursday P-Day, and he told me he wanted to work on being better at tracting. So with this in mind, I took him to an untapped street and then told him, "Everything the light touches is yours to tract. Go forth my Beloved." So he went to work and started knocking doors! He's a little rough around the edges when it comes to social encounters, something that comes with Asperger's Syndrome, but he's slowly improving. Elder Lamunyon gets frustrated when someone bails him out of a bad contact. He would rather be left in the water to see how he would handle it on his own, so for the most part I didn't say anything and he tracted each door by himself. He's going to be a really great missionary.
Congrats to my Asian brother-in-arms, Elder Chan! He was accepted to BYU Provo on Saturday! He was really stressing out about it and was worried that he wouldn't be accepted. I'm really glad he's going to be in Utah when I get home. It's certainly a lot closer than BYU Hawaii, which is where he was studying before his mission. Elder Chan has been a great blessing to me. He's helped me more than any other companion I've had. I've really grown a lot from him. Normally I really dislike talking to people about my problems, but he really helped me get over that, and when we have any sort of contention between us, we talk it out and fix the problem. We have been really good for each other. I've gotten so use to Elder Chan it's going to feel weird when I get a new companion.
We had a really great lesson with our investigator, Eddie. When we went over his ex-wife was there and she quickly told us our services were no longer needed there, and that she would take over. "Psh, as if! Game on, lady!" She then started to bash on us. Elder Chan and I don't Bible bash, so it was pretty one-sided. We were asking her questions but she was just stomping on us. It's interesting how someone can disrespect one's entire way of life all the while bearing a seemingly friendly smile. She told us how much she respects us going out and spreading the gospel but would then say how it's all in vain because we're ignorant and misinformed heathens! (Perhaps that last part is slightly embellished. She never actually said "heathens" but overall that's basically what she was implying.) I've noticed whenever people try to bash with me and tear down my faith it only strengthens it and makes me more confident that I've make the right decision to be here. Now the actually great part of the lesson came afterward when she left and Eddie was telling us that he has a lot of respect for what we do. He went off about people who can't spend two minutes of their time to listen to us, who are devoting two years to help people. I already know I'm doing the right thing, but it's nice to hear when other people appreciate what we're doing.
Thanks for the package, Mom! I read the article about Doris (the first convert in our family who was tracted by missionaries in Denmark in the mid 1800s) and I was pretty touched by it. #spiritofElijah. Thanks for sending that part, Mom. It's nice to know a little about my family.
And no I haven't gotten the new iPads yet. I won't till the 11th.
Well not much for this email since I last wrote on Thursday. Today should be a fun day, Elders Moua, Tepox, Guthrie and I are going to the driving range with a member from second ward named Andy Miller. I guess he's a professional golfer and he belongs to this fancy country club. I need to work on my swing......well, I guess develop one overall since I've never been golfing other than miniature version. I'm not much of a golfer but it should still make for a good time!
(Fast forward to after going golfing.) Holy moses that was so much fun! I'm actually not that bad of a golfer! Not sure if I could do nine holes very well but I can send the ball pretty far! We had a lot more fun than we thought we would and plan on going next week. This country club is pretty prestigious - we felt like real big shots! They provided Elder Tepox and I with free golf shirts (which are like $65 each,) because we didn't have any collared shirts. We even got our own golf carts! Elder Tepox and I were just cruising around feeling way more prideful and important than we should've! I felt like I had a reserved seat in the great and spacious building. That being said, I may need to be careful to not get too use to country club life.
Love, Elder Hayden Ellis
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