Monday, June 11, 2012

June 11, 2012 letter

Hello Hello,
This week was full of travel. We had Stake Conference in Gilmer, TX. Never have I ever lived in a place where my assigned stake meeting was in a different state. We drove about 200 miles round trip. Awesome. The meeting was very spiritual. We had Elders Todd Hansen and Lynn G. Robbins of the seventy speak to us. I would share all of my notes...but alas...my email would be ginormous. Stake conference was not the only trip that we made to Gilmer this week. We were also there for an exchange with the zone leaders earlier in the week. All in all it was kind of hectic, but we made it work.
 
Early in the week we had a great lesson with one of the families that we are teaching. We invited another family in the branch to invite them over for a dinner/get together. It was really fun. We had a barbecue and tried to play some volleyball. I say tried because the net broke and well, volleyball just isn't the same without a net. So we abandoned the idea of volleyball and instead played missionary tag. Thank you EFY for teaching me random games to get kids attention! So we explained all of the rules, played for about thrity minutes, and then spoke to everyone about the purpose of missionaries. Why we are sent out two by two and why missionary work is so important. The kids really liked it.
Wednesday we had a specialized training in Gilmer. It was an amazing training. I got to see all of the Spanish elders that I came out with bear their testimonies, since it was the last big meeting before they go home. I also got to see the Elder that took me out my first night in the mission give his last testimony. I will never forget these missionaries. They have added so much to my testimony. After this wonderful event, crying and taking pictures, we went on exchange. I made a huge mistake! I had the keys with me. We had left the car at the Elders' apartment in Mt. Pleasant to save some miles. So when we went on exchange, I stayed in Gilmer; which is about 30 minutes south of Mt. Pleasant. Well, of course we didn't realize that I had the keys until the Elders got there and tried to open the car with no keys. Great. So I and the zone leader had to drive to Mt. Pleasant to give the keys to my companion. Dumb do. I hate those. The exchange was great though. This was the first time that my companion has been without me in the area. It was hilarious! I think that he called about every 20 minutes to ask how to get to the next appointment. Idabel is a confusing place.
 
I would have to say that the best part of the week was Sunday. Along with the stake I had the opportunity of sustaining Brothers George Pate, Reilly Lakjohn, and Zeph Griffith to be ordained to the office of Elder and receive the Melchizedek Priesthood. That was a really spiritual part of the meeting. I was so happy for every single one of those men. Brother Pate's children were just baptized, Brother Lakjohn was baptized just 3 months ago, and Brother Griffith's wife and son were baptized recently as well. It truly has been an amazing 4 months in Idabel. On top of the ordinations we had the Kaios' baptismal interview right after the meeting. They will be baptized on the 16th of June. Their two girls will then be baptized 3 weeks later. Idabel is amazing. I love it here. Just wish that I got to spend a little bit more time here this week instead of being in Texas. Not that I have anything against Texas..but...it's not Idabel.
 
Please tell the Barnhouses that I miss them SO much! I hope that they got the letters that I sent them. Please ask them if they did. The Starsky and Hutch car is in the GHETTO of Idabel. Yes, there is a ghetto side of Idabel. Yes mom, Uncle Tylow was quoting part of the movie. They have Yoga competitions? How does that work? Whoever breaks in half loses? Y'all have an iguana named Tigress? Umm...Kung-Fu Panda influence maybe? How big is this thing? Man, I really wish that I could be there for Matt's endowments. But hey...I'm on a mission. Tell him that we will go when I get back. Pick your daddy's nose sounds awesome. Totally going to make that into a missionary lesson somehow. Umm okay...so can you please explain the whole chicken dish towel lesson that the missionaries did at the house. Sounds like some weird magic trick. No you didn't tell me about Kaitie watching the house, but she did. Ha ha ha. She was like, "Guess what I am doing right now? I'm sitting on YOUR couch, in YOUR house, watching YOUR dog. Coco loves me. I have spent more time in your house than you have. Jealous?" Ha ha ha. Kaitie is awesome. Her letters are always hilarious.
 
Okay gotta go. Love you much.
Elder McNinch

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