Good week to you, friends, family members, miscellaneous internet robots and hackers of all varieties!
This last week was... well... the BEST.
To begin the week, we cleaned our room. And when I say clean, I mean OCD deep clean with every surface sparkling and holy cow did it take a while. We had a member coming later that day to inspect the apartment, so we needed it squeaky clean. All was well until I dumped a seemingly harmless amount of meat down the disposal. For the experienced, this was a rookie mistake. I quickly came to realize the error of my ways when no liquid or slime would go down the drain, but instead insisted on coming up. I rapidly remembered all of the plumbing preparation I had before my mission (none) and got to work. With a coat hanger and some southern hospitality, I maneuvered the shredded stinky meat out of the pipes. It just kept coming. Delicioso. Anyway. Pipes were clear, drain functional, and cleaning check passed (with only one point off!). We were so proud of our room, we decided to keep it that way.
Anyway. This week was the week of the OTMs. We had to get 5 OTMs everyday as a mission goal. An OTM consists of Opening Thy Mouth to any of the local citizens of Fort Smith or Van Buren Arkansas. For my companionship, though, we need to find larger congregations of Latinos so that we can even do this. We found success in the numerous Tiendas of Fort Smith and Van Buren and even a pawn shop or two.
Speaking of Pawn Shops. We were going to meet an investigator who took the night shift at the one and only TYSON (in honor of Mike Tyson) chicken plant. He was sleeping and we woke him up mid-slumber. We decided to come back 45 minutes later. We tried every door we could find, but to no avail. Our investigators were gone, potentials at work, and apartment complexes devoid of cars. We did the only thing we could. We went to a random pawn shop. We got out and went in, and while my gaze was focused on a beautiful Invicta timepiece in a grotesquely large case, a woman approached me and said "Hi." My calculated missionary response: "Hi." She proceeded to tell me that she was a member of our church in the faraway land of Tulsa and that she had referrals for us in our area. Some of them were LATINOS!!!! We had felt like going into this pawn shop was perhaps a sign of defeat, but it proved to be where the Lord wanted us (boy, does he work in mysterious ways).
Our English Classes were postponed another week, but this week we prepared and researched. We have all of the materials and all of the desire, but this is the week of advertisement. Tiendas, public places, EVERYWHERE will get smashed with advertisements. We will be calling the newspaper and getting all kinds of advertisements, so long as they are free. It helps that we're such an unusual bunch, though. NEWS FLASH: TWO YOUNG, TALL, BILINGUAL, WHITE AMERICAN MEN GIVE FREE ENGLISH CLASSES. Or something like that. I am so excited. We will be so weird. WOOT.
This week we had Zone Conference and let me just tell you I have never, and I say that with confidence, never been anywhere besides the House of the Lord that is so spiritual. Over 75 missionaries sharing experiences, teaching styles, and advice with the presence of a mission president called of God to lead us. President Shumway is the best person in existence. He is so spiritual, dedicated, and strong. He shared all kinds of things with us and we got to hug both him and his wife at the end. It was so spiritually uplifting and physically draining. I slept very well that night.
This week marked one year in the field for my companion, Elder Brown. We were going about our normal lives, doing missionary work, and we went to dinner. At dinner the members surprised him with all manner of fun things. He was blindfolded and tied to a chair and we all threw water balloons at him. He was in pain because most of them weren't full enough to pop (#MERICA). He had an enjoyable day and burned one of his white shirts in a fireplace that evening as a celebration. It was hot.
Cool stuff happened yesterday (Sunday). One of our recent converts received the Aaronic Priesthood and was ordained to the office of Priest. He is super cool and in the pictures this week (click the link on the right-hand side) we took a picture with him and some other members. We get to go to the temple with him soon, hopefully this next Saturday to the OKC Temple. Another cool thing, one of our investigators said the closing prayer to Sacrament Meeting! Not everyday that that happens.
In other news, our car got backed into while parked (again) and our paint for the original time dried a different color (KEWL), so car problems for days. We made some hospital visits yesterday and shared some spiritual thoughts. Each of the Sisters in the hospital are expected to make a full recovery.
Thank you for your prayers and for being the BEST.
Email me whenever (left-hand column on blog)
Yours most truly,
Elder Matthew Busi
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| From Left to Right: Jaime (recent convert) Elder Brown, Yours Truly, Octavio (first councilor in Branch Presidency, and Jeffery (Recent Returned Missionary) |
