My Side Quest: A Tale of Many Stories

Our ward mission leader is also an ENT. He loves telling us about the surgeries that he performed between our visits and showing nasty pictures to us. When he learned that Elder Stewart had stitches in his head, he jumped at the opportunity to offer his assistance at getting them out when it was time. We went to his house on Tuesday and got them all out. The ward mission leader sent a text to Elder Stewart's mother saying that he successfully pulled the stitches out for him. She texted back, obviously riled up. It turns out, he never told his mom about the experience at the bike shop. However, things are ok! She's good, and he has healed up nicely.

The baptism date of our friend has been changed again to Tuesday the 19th. Apparently a mutual activity is more important than a Daughter of God entering into the straight and narrow path into salvation... ;) I am thrilled because she chose me to play violin with a pianist at her baptism. Because of it, I was able to play a violin for the first time in over three months yesterday.

We had the opportunity to take a senior in high school on a mini mission. Things weren't going too well this week, because everyone has the excuse that they are getting ready for Christmas. However, with this guy with us, we received two new investigators. That is pretty crazy, since that's about how many we get in a month! It's good to have him with us.

One night, I woke up two times in a row because my blanket fell off and the cold got to me. I then had a fantastic idea. We resolved to turn off all of the heat in the entire apartment, and then turn the heat up in our bedroom all the way with the door closed. The room never really heated up, and when we woke up in the morning, it was like walking outside. Lesson learned: Don't listen to me when I say, "I just had the best idea!"

I neglected to say, a couple weeks ago, I leveled up and received a golden tightlist. It is a large golden metal ball with a rod that it is held by. It has a much higher summoning power and is a sight for sore eyes. If you ever ever feeling down, just take a glance at it and feel your troubles melt away.

We had a zone conference this week. I was able to play the piano for O Holy Night while my companion and two others sang. It wasn't too amazing, but if I had a video of it, I would totally share it.

This week has been rather insane in terms of eating food. For the first time ever, I ate a radish, a cherry tomato, Okra and a fig. I don't really understand why people like radishes, but they are alright. Okra isn't something that was meant for the body. I didn't quite like the fig, but it is tolerable. In the course of my life, I have suffered many trials and hardships, but nothing could have prepared me for the calamity that is within a cherry tomato. I slowly put it into my mouth and bit down onto it, spewing horrid juices all over my tongue. I was thrust into a world of terror, regretting each bite I took. Each bite gushed juice further, dropping my soul further out of my body. Eventually, the shell of my body swallowed the liquid terror, ending my days.

There was also one person who fed us this dinner that was kind of good, but it had something within that I am unable to eat. Shrimp. I was trying to be good, so I gradually ate the food around it, but a single shrimp was on my plate, staring me down. When no one was looking, I quickly grabbed it with my hand and threw it into my lap, where a napkin was waiting. I then pulled my planner out of my shirt pocket, put it in my lap, hid the shrimp behind it, and then pushed it into my shirt pocket. The smell rose up to my nostrils, indicating that this was a bad plan. I snuck it out of my shirt pocket and shoved it straight into my pants pocket. I moved a little bit and became nervous that it would get smashed, and leak its contents into my pocket. I took a "bathroom break" and shuffled over to my coat, where I hid it in my coat pocket. Then, after the dinner appointment, we proceeded to the Ward mission leaders apartment where I thrust the shrimp to the depths of the trashcan.

On one night, we were forced to travel down an exceptionally large hill in order to reach our dinner appointment. The hill lasts about two miles, and most of it is an incline, with just a few flat parts. We had stayed as long as we could, and then had to retreat back up the hill to get to another appointment. Things were very difficult, charging up that hill, and it was raining a bit. I became very fatigued and wanted to fall over into a puddle and lay there. Before giving up, I asked in a prayer for the strength to make it all the way up the hill in order to be on time to the appointment. I then received strength to keep going and made it all the way up in about 25 minutes. My legs were burning, and I still wanted to fall over, but we made it and arrived for a sweet lesson.

There's my week for you. There would probably be more stuff in this email if I didn't forget my journal AGAIN.