Week 25
July 26, 2021
WEEK 25
Good Morning everyone!
This week was pretty slow as far as missionary work goes. We had like 15+ lessons planned this week and I think only like 3 of them happened. I did go ham on my Facebook Finding and set a new personal record of 60 Facebook contacts this week. Next week, I am going for 100. But, I will tell you some of the fun life updates from this week! We moved apartments, had interviews with our mission President, and went on exchanges. It was a good week!
This week on Tuesday morning, we got a call from the housing coordinator in Lansing and he was like "yeah, you guys could've moved in a while ago." We were like. What. So, that day we spent the whole day cleaning and moving all of our stuff out of our apartment. We moved into a two bedroom, two bathroom apartment just a few doors down the hall. The new one is WAY nicer than our old one so that is nice. It has a master bedroom with its own closet and bathroom. We flipped a coin to see who would get it and we got the master! I was pretty excited about that. After a few hours of moving all the stuff, everyone was wiped. Except, we still had a lot to do! So, I cleaned most of the old apartment and moved a lot of the stuff with my companion lol. It is actually really funny what happened. One of the other missionaries we live with decided to take a nap, and about 4 hours later he woke up and all the stuff had been moved! He was like ??? What the haha. It was funny.
Unfortunately, I could not get anyone else to do the last thing we needed to on moving day. We don't have a fridge in our new apartment and we were instructed to just move our old one. We compromised by them all helping me organize everything on that one day we moved. But, since we never moved the fridge, now we can't find time to move it! Every time we need something from the fridge, we have to go down the hall into our old apartment haha! But it is okay. We are just happy to have a new, clean apartment. We literally spent the entire day, from 11 am to 9 pm cleaning and moving. We had 5 lessons planned and all of them fell through so we were able to get everything done! It was kind of a tender mercy. However, the next day I was ready to get back to work lol.
We had interviews with President Heap this week that were super fun! My companion and I both got some juice on what may happen to us next transfer... so stay tuned for that. We will find out in about two weeks what happens for sure!
We had exchanges this week with our Zone Leaders. I went back to my old area in Saginaw for the exchange and it was so fun!! While I was there, I got to see one of my favorite members! The Nichols family used to bring us groceries every week. Every time they came over we would get a call. Brother Nichols would say "Hey! Are you guys home?" we would say "Yeah we are!" He'd say "Come outside I have some stuff for you!" It went the exact same. Every time. It was awesome! While I was there, my Zone Leader got that call and I got to talk with them! It was so fun! What a great family. I miss them a lot. They let me take some of the Zone Leader's food home with me so now our fridge is full.
Yesterday, a family needed their piano moved. So, Elder Kofford and I went over. We loaded the piano into a U-Haul , out of a house, and then into the member's home! Man, that thing was heavy. And only Brother Martinez and I lifted it! Afterwards, we sat in their kitchen with all three of the members there and I felt prompted to share a spiritual thought. So, dripping with sweat, we all shared our favorite scriptures. The spirit was so strong as each of them bore their testimonies about why that scripture was their favorite. I shared my favorite scripture from memory. It is Helaman 5:12, and as I shared the scripture from memory, the spirit filled the room.
Well, that is it from me! I want to share one funny story from last week, and then share my testimony.
Last week, a fun Elder I live with named Elder Candland and I decided it would be funny if the hairiest dude in the apartment shaved his legs. We grabbed some hair removal cream from Walmart and tried to get him to put it on. He refused, so then WE decided we should get the hair off our legs for fun! So, I have had no hair on my legs for the past two weeks. Luckily, my hair is blonde so no one has noticed my hair-less legs haha. And honestly, it is kind of nice! 10/10 would recommend haha. But that was something funny that happened last week.
I have been thinking a lot lately about how important the scriptures are to me. In Second Nephi 4:15-16 Nephi talks about how he delights in the scriptures, and ponders them continually. I love all of you, and challenge you to read the scriptures like Nephi does. He reads them, ponders them, and delights in the joy and peace they bring to his life. I can testify that the scriptures are such a blessing to our lives and that the Book of Mormon was truly translated by the gift and power of God.
I love you all! Have a good week!
-Elder Elliott
The pan is a funny story as well. The Elders I live with have been telling me I need some non-stick spray for my pancakes and I always tell them I don't need them. But, this dude in Bay City named Paul who loves to hook up missionaries thought it was really funny how much I love pancakes, and the Elders told him I needed some spray; so, he decided he would buy me a whole new non-stick pan!! I was gone on exchanges when he brought it over, so my companion had Paul sign the pan for me with a sharpie haha! They left it on the couch and when I came in, it felt like Christmas morning with my pan sitting there haha.
Paul loves me a lot for some reason. He thinks I am hilarious. He bought me a bunch of Reese's Pieces because I remind him of the movie E.T. because of my last name. Apparently, in the movie E.T. says "Elliott, Elliott, phone home." So every time he calls he says "Elliott, phone home." My nickname from him is "Elliott E.T."
