Non Scripted Email

I forgot to write stuff down so this will probably be a shorter email than normal.  So I have a new companion on Tuesday, Elder Ward is no longer my companion and that makes me really sad because my new companion is one of those 18 year old ones (barely turned 19 a bit ago) and he is super immature.  I liked Elder Ward a lot because he was really mature and worked hard.  It seems to be impossible to impose that work ethic on them so I will just have to try to be an example.  Oh yah his name is Elder Bagget (Bag-it), I keep forgetting his name so I call him a bunch of different stuff like:  Bagel, Baggins, Bucket, Toaster, etc.

 

So Elder Bagget brought with him a game called munchkins.  It is a ton of fun!  We play it a lot and apparently so do other missionaries in the mission.  I have the game at home and played it while I was in California.  Unfortunately I didn't bring it on my mission.  There are also tons and tons of different expansions and stuff that goes with it, they look really fun!

 

I recently found out that instead of 2 Panda Express's there is only 1 in my entire mission,  and that is in Camp Hill.  It is by Harrisburg.  Anyway I will surly miss it.

 

There is this really good talk that was in the Elder Bednar book (I just finished it by the way it was really good).  It is called "Becoming a Missionary"  from the November 2005 Ensign.  I don't really remember it except for it was really good.

 

On Sunday there was a Worldwide Leadership conference thing that we all went to and it was super important that some places pushed back sacrament meeting for it.  They encouraged everyone to watch it and I think you all should too.  It is on LDS.org here is the link:

Worldwide Conference of Awesomeness!

If you cannot click on it, it is on Lds.org

 

*SPOILER ALERT*

Elder Packer looks/sounds like he wont be with us for much longer though.  Also the last thing he said was: "I know Christ".  Also they said something to the effect of that missionaries will be able to use the internet more for missionary purposes in the near  future.

 

Two of my recent converts went to the temple on Saturday to do baptisms for the dead.  They really enjoyed it.  I am a little bit sad I am not able to go.  The closest temple is in Washington D.C by the way.

Things Happening This Week

After I email you guys hopefully we go back to the apartment because I am going to make brownies with marshmallows and toffee bits in them to see if it tastes good. 

 

One of our investigators are from Haiti and they invited us to dinner and we had Haitian food.  It wasn't too bad.  We picked up a new investigator this week it was pretty sweet.  He was on some of our old records and we went to see him and he invited us back.  When we came back he was so awesome!  We shared the parable of the  prodigal son and he kept comparing it to himself, it was great.  He also gave me a piece of a pastry called baklava and it is like a 20 tiny layers of ........  some sort of pastry.  It is supposed to be super hard to make since all the layers have to be stacked individually.  He said his boss' wife or someone made it.  The only problem with this guy is that he says he was accused of pushing his girlfriend or someone down the stairs and she sued him.  So he is on probation (we can't baptize people on probation)  and he has to wear an ankle bracelet (the kind that keeps track of you).  Although he is really nice, and instead of giving us a handshake he hugs us.

 

I finished reading the Miracle of Forgiveness and it was really good.  I loved it.  Now I am finishing up Increase in Learning by Elder Bednar.  I am almost done with it. 

 

Apparently in my mission (and maybe other missions do it too I don't know) there is this thing were you refer the person that trained you your "Father" so the person that trained him is your "Grandfather"  I think it is kind of weird and am not into it very much, which is probably why I am just barely saying this now.

 

I got to confirm Tonja yesterday and it was really interesting.  I don't think I did very well, but hopefully I will get better with practice.  The bishop also pulled me aside and gave me some pointers afterwards.  He whispered in my ear after I said amen to see he immediately after sacrament meeting and that I wasn't in trouble.  My immediate thought was "What did I do wrong" and "how much trouble I was in for it?" hahaha that is all I could think about all throughout sacrament meeting.  Luckily I wasn't in any trouble and the bishop just wanted to help me out.  The day before that Elder Ward baptized her and he had to do it twice because he forgot to say amen and immediately afterwards EVERYONE had to point it out and it just (in my opinion) took the spirit right out of there.  I laughed at him afterwards though.

 

My trainer, Elder Ward, is being transferred tomorrow and we are getting a new companion.  I am a little sad that I don't get to go to the transfer meeting though.  Unfortunately Elder Mantle my other companion, didn't get his visa from Brazil yet.  It is especially frustrating because he is starting to drive me nuts.  He talks about himself and when he was back at home WAY too much, and he whistles the same thing over and over and over again.  And some other stuff too but it isn't that big of a deal.  For example me and him have to share a closet and he sits in the way of it a lot, so I step on his bet to get to it and that bothers him for some reason.

 

One thing I am very sad about is that there is only like 2 Panda Express's in my entire mission!   And there isn't one in my area!  :(

Stuffs

Here is the latest update from Elder Mellor from 6/10/13! He had a great week and met probably his favorite person in the world. I am so grateful that he is safe and well! 

So I didn't really write down any experiences that I wanted to share with you guys like I normally do so I don't forget, so I am going to have to wing this. 

 

We have been working with this lady named Tonja since before I got here and she has had problems with smoking.  Finally on this Saturday we are baptizing her if she stays off the smoking.  Also I am confirming her, this will be my first time doing this.  Another thing is that most likely my companion that is training me will be moving to a different area in July, and I will probably be getting a new one.  I am not really worried though.  Ok maybe a little bit.

 

The Elder Bednar conference was great it was 3 hours long too!! Although we had to stay the night at the Elder's apartment in Hershey, but it was kind of cool because all of the street lamps there had Hershey's Kisses on the tops of them!  I wanted to get a picture but I never got the chance to.  We all got to shake his hand at the end and I gave him one of those one handed handshake/hug things.  So I did get to hug him like I wanted too!  Then afterwards we all took a picture with him, the three of the 70 and the mission president and his wife.  I really have no idea what they are going to do with it though.  I hope they send it to me.  There were three of the quorum of the 70 there too by the way.  He is really funny when he is not in general conference.  It was really cool to see him in an environment where he could be more relaxed.  At one point he called one of the 70 to address a comment and he just walked over to a table thing that was next to the podium and just sat on it and was just chilling, sucking on a mint (which he popped a couple in his mouth while he was talking, he was pretty skillful about it too.  I barely noticed).  I was sitting in the very front pew and he was right there.  Where I was sitting when Bednar sat down his gaze naturally settled on me.  he was looking right at me!  It was a little unnerving because he has really dark eyes and it felt like he was peeking into my soul. 

 

This conference was not a lecture from Elder Bednar.  It was more of a workshop in the sense that he asked a lot of questions and we asked him a lot of questions.  I was actually lucky enough to be able to participate and answer a question he had, and I made him laugh too.  I looked behind me and I was like "wow that's a lot of people".  He just busted up it was pretty cool.  He told us one of the study methods he has is to take a new inexpensive paper back copy of the Book of Mormon and just mark it up all over in relating to a question he had or something he wants to study.  Then he writes a one page summery of what he learned, then puts it on a bookshelf.  He has about 455 of these books too by the way on a bookshelf at his home.  He told us how his sons often ask if they could read them and his response was hilarious! He said that if they tried he would cut their hands off (he said he literally told him that too!).  Then they asked what about after he died. He said and I quote: "I will spend my last breath on striking a match and burning that bookshelf so that you wont be able to see it.  And that I will make sure I don't go to the spirit world until it is all ash."  It was hilarious!  I wish you guys could have been there.  The principle of that was to emphasis that spiritual knowledge cannot be transferred from one person to another, but it has to come by learning from the Holy Ghost.

 

Oh dang what else did he talk about?  I know it was three hours of greatness, but I am having a hard time remembering it, of course everything will probably come back to me once I have to leave.  If I remember anything else awesome I will send an email out to everyone about it, if the computer doesn't kick me off for sending a bunch of pictures.

 

 

So one of our recent converts (Chris) are moving to Vermont (moving in with his girlfriends Grandma and his girlfriend so hopefully he will be able to stay true and go on a mission.  He has had us all worried).  Anyway since it was our last week with him we decided to watch the movie 17 Miracles with him.  Near the end of the movie I had to leave to go give a blessing to one of the members mom, at the hospital (the rest of my companionship stayed there) so we gave him a blessing before I left so we could all be a part of it.  I wasn't the one giving the blessing though.  For the members mom she wasn't going to die or anything it was just a surgery that she has done before.

And now, for pictures! 

Elder Mellor made himself a Birthday cake the day after his Birthday. Haha 

Elder Mellor now 20 years old! Can you believe it?!

Elder Mellor really appreciated his Birthday cards from Grandma and Grandpa and from Aunt Jeanette and her family! He thought it was really cool that you had to blow out the candles in the Yoda card. 

Elder Mellor wants a cool flag like this eventually to remind him of his mission! Apparently it is hanging up in his Companion's doctor's office. 

That is all for this week! Until next time!! 

Hello from PA!

Here is Elder Mellor's weekly update from 6/3/13! Let's start out with some pictures!

Elder Mellor cut his own hair! (With help from his companion)

SOme treasures that Elder Mellor found! The bottom two are from some candy shop and the top two are from an Amish market which is pretty cool! Its honeycomb and real maple syrup (which he just drinks because apparently it tastes better by itself than on stuff.) He said he was going to send a little bit to his family which probably means his big sister won't get any. BOO. Hahaha

Elder Mellor's Birthday Doughnut!

He actually succeeded in making honey sesame shrimp from a honey sesame chicken mix. I am so proud!

Poor little Spike Jr. He is keeping him under a light to keep him warm but accidentally hit him with the light and flattened him on the top! And he makes fun of his big sister for killing cacti...

And without further adieu here is Elder Mellor's letter! He is doing so well and teaching and growing and it is a miracle. I am so proud of him! See for yourself! :) 

So we had a situation on, I think it was Tuesday.  So we got home Tuesday night at 9:00 PM like we always do and it smelled really bad.  At first my companion thought that my  other companion threw away chicken or something and that's what it was.  But then we also heard a weird noise like the toilet was running (it is a little broken where you have to jiggle the handle to get it to stop flushing continuously).  So I went up to the toilet to jiggle the handle, but it wasn't running..... DO DO DO DO DO DO DO DO TWILIGHT ZONE!!!!  

 

HAHA just kidding.  So we looked in our supply closet/place where the water heater is stored and heard the water running, but couldn't find the leak, then I stepped on it in the carpet.  A closer inspection revealed that there was like rat poop on the ground.  So we have a water leak and rodents.  So we called the landlord at around 9:30 and he said he would be there in an hour.  He didn't get there till about 11:40.  I was so mad because I had to stay up and wait for him!  He just turned the water off and said he would come back in the morning.  Well we still had to shower and we had district meeting the next morning.  So we ended up taking a shower at the YMCA that was on the way to the church, where we had the meeting.  Apparently YMCA's don't have shower curtains, it is just a square room with shower heads popping out of the walls.So my companions and I had to see each other's naked backside.  I am just glad that it wasn't till after we finished showering that all the old men came in to shower, so at least I didn't see a ton of naked old men.

 

Eventually that day our landlord got our water fixed and found out that the pipe had been chewed through!  So we really did have some kind of rodent.  He set traps and hopefully he catches it.  So that was my adventure for the week.

 

I have been thinking of a lot of different ideas for inventions, so I decided to get a notebook and write them down and draw diagrams of them.  Unfortunately I don't know how to draw so I couldn't do that part.  On that same topic does anyone know how a mister system works (you know like the ones at Disney Land or in the ticket line for the movie theatre)?  I had a really cool idea regarding that. 

 

Also some people have been wanting me to talk about the people I have been teaching so here is the run-down.  I think I already talked about the person that told us they wanted a break from us for a while.  It is the person who her recent convert husband was going to baptize.  So I will skip her.

 

One of the people we are working with her name is Tonja.  (As a side note she also has a daughter named Kazhia, except she spells it differently.  And yes she is black before you ask)  She has been taught long before I got here and she has had trouble quitting smoking, but we think that she will be able to stop and be baptized on the 15th of this month, so that is our goal for her.  She is a stay at home mom.

 

Another person we are working with is named Lovely (my companion never met her and just had an address and he asked someone who wasn't her "Are you Lovely?"  I bet that was awkward) (and yes she is also black, to be specific from Haiti).  She is really cool and progressing well.  She is a stay at home mom and is pregnant with her 3rd child and she is about 8 months in.

 

Lastly we have been trying to get ahold of this particular fellow ever since I got here, and yesterday we finally got to sit down and talk with him.  His name is Nathan and he works at a place called Eat-N-Park.  I think it used to be like a sonic or something, but I am just guessing from the name.  Now it is a place like Village Inn and it is just as popular too, they are everywhere.  He gave us some pie and it was super good! (he makes the pies there too from what I gather).  Anyway he grew up when he was little as a Mormon but doesn't really remember any of it and wants to know more about it.  His wife is awesome and really interested in it too.  She is really cool and fun and calls herself immature a lot but it is just fun.  and they latched on the message very quickly.