Mmmmmmmhmmmmmmmm
THIS IS THE LAST WEEK OF THE Oklahoma Tulsa Mission. There is a... rich(?) history and many great people have served here, including the great Mark Cantrell, Spencer Bohn, and Alyxandria Beadle.
Now that the shoutouts are done and over with, this week was actually pretty great. We started off the week a little bit slower, with people bailing on their appointments, and when we got appointments, they went an hour or so too long. It was tough.
Highlights of this week include, but absolutely do not exclude:
Tokyo Drift (shoutout to Hoyt): We are safe drivers. We have to be. Tiwi, a.k.a. the devil in a small box on our windshield, reports all driving data, RPMs, geographic location, speed, and even seatbelts. This is a miracle for the church, because this way, theoretically nobody gets hurt, but it is hard to explain to the Mission Office if a reason you get "aggressive driving" is for avoiding someone else's aggressive driving. ANYWAY. Tokyo Drift. So, we were with a member of our branch and we had to go to some appointments. He offered to drive (WOOT we didn't have to use miles) but proceeded to drift around parking lots and speed up and race people and all other manner of irresponsible driving. We protested such actions, and asked him in loud voices to desist. He did not. His final act of scary driving consisted of running a stop sign and drifting into the highway. Luckily we didn't hit anyone, but we cut someone off pretty bad. In the rearview mirror was none other than an Arkansas State Police officer. By some miracle, he did not get pulled over, but he was much more careful after that.
Eating no fewer than 4 meals in 3 hours (all of them large). It was lunchtime, and we were famished. We had been in studies all morning and it was time to chow down. We were going to raid the fridge, when a member called us and offered us a (FREE) lunch! We were so happy, and we filled up our tanks for a long day. We had another hour of studies following the lunch, so we returned to the apartment. All was well. Then, an hour later, we had our scheduled dinner. A little soon, but still good. Everything was fine until we got offered another dinner at a different member's house, and they insisted. Okayyyyy, but we're sooo fulllllllllll. We scarfed it down, but now we were starting to feel terrible physically. Just when we thought that we couldn't possibly eat more, we got another dinner. This time, we had been out looking for a less active. When we got to their house, to our great astonishment we found a full-blown FIESTA going on in their yard. It was a PARTAY, but while we were there we weren't offered food but instead given plates heaping with chicken and all other manner of grilled food. We cheated a little on this one. We ate as much as we could, and then discarded the rest. THE RESULTS: A new personal record of 7 pounds gained in one day, with my companion gaining a close 6 pounds. We wanted to die.
2 New Baptismal Dates!! Daniel and Deliani, the children of the recently-baptized Mayra, accepted baptism and are super excited! They are super cool and ready to go now. This is the second time that we have invited them, but they are loving the gospel and are more receptive now, since their mom is such a good example. She has really become a different person, through the saving power of the Atonement of Christ. She is an awesome person (and a good cook, too!)
This week we got to get in the pool! That's right, we got to roll up our slacks, put on some flip-flops, and clean out someone's empty pool this week. It was marvelous to feel the cool blue vinyl siding under our fingernails as we picked out small leaves and pine needles. A truly magnificent experience.
JC's Barbeque Joint is our favorite place. EVER. We eat there occasionally whenever we get taken to dinner by our friend Thomas, who is a returned missionary. In the coming weeks, look out for pictures of us there that will be in the Google Drive folder (follow the link in the right-hand column). Delicious food and cool people. Thomas is the best and we love hanging out with him. He is our Elder's Quorum President, and he is a very responsible person.
Alright let's get this out of the way: The Supreme Court Decision. So, on Friday, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) made a decision that will probably go down in history as one of the most controversial decisions made. My stance, and that of the Church are the same. This changes no doctrine, this changes only the law of the land. While it exists, we respect it, but we do not, as a church or I as an individual condone such actions. Now, I love all people, and so does the church, but the family is ordained to consist of a man and a woman married together. One man. One woman. That is it. Am I outraged? No. It was going to happen. Am I happy? No. It is contrary to the position of the church, nay the position of God Himself. So, take that for what it's worth.
Gustavo is our friend, our homie G. We hang with him a lot, and his is less active. We try to help him make good choices, and he accompanies us to many of our lessons. He doesn't currently have a job, so he has a LOT more time to.... come with the missionaries of course! He is a really cool guy and has a good heart. He came to church last week and it was super awesome. We are trying to work with his younger brother too, but they are very different people. He will be featured in the picture below:
Today we got to go mountain biking with our friend Evan- a Member, and with our homie Gustavo. Here is the prettay prettay picture :)
Love y'all. Stay Classy. Stay Cool (don't melt!)
Elder Matthew Busi
