One Month Down!

On Friday was my 1 month anniversary since I have left!! WOOO!!!  Last Monday we drove quite a while to play mini golf, but they were closed for the season, which was a new concept to me.

Our apartment building is on the top of a pretty big/steep hill and sometimes we have to walk up it because we got the amount  of miles we can drive reduced by a lot, anyway it sucks but I am getting better at it and stopping less.

We have two people we are baptizing/confirming on Saturday/Sunday I will be confirming one while my companion baptizes him and we are not sure about the other one.  Also I tracked into this golden investigator (it was my turn to talk so I found her) We meet with her and she said that very morning she was wondering why the last scripture was the bible and there isn't anything more recent.  So she was super prepared and it was amazing.  Since I found her I feel like she is my baby (she has a really cute baby too by the way).  The lord really does prepare the people we meet.  Speaking of investigators there is a lot of really weird people in PA.  And everyone's house except for most members smell really bad.  Do you remember the person in the Big Bang Theory whose name is Kripke and he talks really funny?  Well I found someone that talks just like him.  It is odd also he is afraid of crowds so he doesn't come to church.

Our apartment is filled with these really weird bugs and my companion said that if you squich them, then they will smell really bad and attract more.  So we are constantly catching and throwing them outside, well my companion is anyway they gross me out.  Also at the bottom of our hill we live on is a train and it is really noisy I feel sorry for  people who live by it.  We can hear it from our apartment but it doesn't wake us up or anything. 

I had Salman (the fish I couldn't figure out how to spell it) for the first time when we had a dinner appointment.

So me and my companion were thinking that it would be cool if we had a plant.  I said I wanted a Venus fly trap, and he wanted a mini banana tree.  I saw a picture and it looks really cool.  So do you know where I could get a Venus fly trap or you could send me one that would be cool.

This guy next to me at the library sounds like a zombie, its quite distracting. 

I also learned that I will be at the mission office on Wednesday for a Zone Training Conference so I will be able to get your Easter package then which is sooner than I thought.

Ever since I read this book my companion has (which is a lot) I think it was called "LDS Beliefs" or something and it has three different authors.  Anyway ever since I read it I have become addicted to learning more and gaining more knowledge which is what led me to start reading Jesus the Christ (which every one should read By the way because it is a book that explains the scriptures like none other, you will see when you read it).

Me and my companion have been planning on learning family history so we can use it to lure in investigators.  So that will be a good thing that I will learn how to use it.  Also I plan on printing my priesthood line of authority and taping it to the wall by my desk.

Also if you find my earbuds I think they are in the basket next to the laptops, if you could send them to me whenever you send me another package in the future  also I think there is a green light bulb in my closet that I would like too.  I feel like I am begging for packages so I want to let you know that this isn't the case.  See my companion has a lamp next to his desk and I want to switch light bulbs when he isn't looking. Right now I have to use $1 uncomfortable ones to find Mormon messages and stuff for my investigators.

We ran into this chiropractor guy who was kind of weird while we were walking somewhere and he invited us in his shop and talked to us.  He has really odd beliefs about Scientology and stuff.  Then I mentioned how I have been getting these random headaches and said I had whiplash or something.  And he said he would work on us for $25.  If my headaches start up again (they have stopped for a while) then I might have to see him.

There is SO much road kill on the side of the road in PA.  Just about every day we see some kind of animal dead on the side of the road.  Once we even saw a dead deer.  Speaking of animals there are a lot of animals I see that I have no idea what they are around here.

I have had a lot of love for these $1 just add water  pancake mixes.  I tried putting vanilla in it and it tastes great.  I think I am going to try adding Mtn dew instead of water or doing half and half next time.  And next time I get Mtn Dew.

Letter #2 From PA!

This week was pretty good.  We signed up to volunteer at the hospital. We actually start on Tuesday.  Plus they give us free meals at the end of our volunteering of whatever we want!  As far as we can tell all we have to do is greet people or run errands or push people in wheelchairs.

We gave one of our investigators a blessing, I did the anointing the best I ever have.  The scripture  about opening your mouth and it will be filled really is true.

The pipes on a lot of the houses here are actually made of pipes.  Can you believe that?!  Also a lot of the shops and stuff in a lot of towns are just abandoned around here, I would say about 1\3 of them are abandoned.

It really is true when they say missionaries have long days and short weeks.  My sense of time feels all  distorted and I cant tell what happened which day.

I got my Priesthood line of authority in my email which is awesome! Also occasionally I forget my first name since I always go by elder.

I also have all the appliances I could ever need, even a washing machine and dryer! Unfortunately I don't have a dishwasher.

Also I LOVE reading books about deep doctrine here, I am reading Jesus the Christ now.  My favorite topics ,in case you want to send me something,  is how God is an exalted being and lived on an earth like us and our heavenly mother.  Also is the biography on pres Monson good?  I heard great things about it.

People have weird terminology here like sweeper is vacuum.  Also truck here is a plural word some how like people say "I drive truck"  as in they are a truck driver.  And Y'ins is some how a word too like "How are Y'ins doing" It is a very weird place. Also people refer to the state by the initials PA.

Also I don't have any new pictures because my batteries are dead and I wont get your package until the 25th when I have my quarterly interview with the mission pres.

Also It is about 68 degrees and sunny so it is really nice here.  I thought I would just rub that in.

First Letter From the Field!

Sorry I wasn't able to email you last week I was never given a chance to.  Here is how this is going to work.  I am going to send you all the stuff I want to say to you then I will respond to emails that have questions in them and such.

I am assigned to the Monongahela area, but my apartment is in Charleroi. Apparently part of OHIO is in my mission area so that's odd.

At the MTC I was able to get the journals you gave me engraved like my scriptures so that's pretty cool.  It says Elder Zachary Mellor

When I first got here I was reminded of the frost planet of Hoth from Star Wars. As far as I have seen the entire state of PA is like Globe, AZ.  Also there are TONS of cemeteries EVERYWHERE!! Plus there are TONS of one way roads and windy roads and it makes me car sick.

The first district meeting I went to (they are every Wednesday) was at a catholic school converted into a church.  apparently the church bought an abandoned catholic school and turned the first floor into a church.  The other two stories are just old stuff from the school pushed into a corner of all the rooms.  

My companion (elder Ward) is pretty cool, although he is a health nut and is allergic to sugar I guess (apparently it makes him feel bad or something).  Also when he sits he crosses his legs like a girl (not that there is anything wrong with that) and when he does that and is wearing his sweater he looks like Mr. Rogers/ a therapist and its hilarious I will try to get a picture if I can.  Also he makes hard boiled eggs and he cracked them on his already cracked watch.

So in our ward the bishop's name is Ron Paul, no not THE Ron Paul, he is the really big black guy that is really good at singing.  For the Easter service it was pretty much just singing and there are a LOT of talented singers and musicians in the ward even though there are only about 100 people.  My companion was asked to be in the choir so I also had to sing.

We get fed pretty often over here, in fact the other day we were invited to have deer meat burgers for lunch with one of our investigators.  This one time we ate dinner and at the end the sister that invited us gave us each a box of cereal.  I was quite taken aback.