It's been 6 months today since we sent Elder Rebalkin to the MTC. That's quarter of the way through his mission already! To celebrate we sent him a "Who's your Hero" Hero sandwich kit. One sandwich for each month he's served.
We also finally got the video done from dropping him off at the MTC. You can view it here.
We also finally got the video done from dropping him off at the MTC. You can view it here.
We've been spending a lot of time outside talking to people out on the street. The thing about small towns is that at first you're praying that the guy down the road will be willing to stop and talk but then after a while you're praying he'll shut up.
Also, you see the same people all over the place. For example, the same person who slammed the door in your face is your cashier at the store two days later. Which makes you feel pretty good about yourself as they ask you to, "have a good day"
My last email I mentioned a woman who chased us down in the street to ask us to come over. We went over to her house and had a great experience. haha we sat down and were talking to her husband while we were waiting for her. When she came in the room she said, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get my friend"
She came back with her neighbor, who was probably in her early 20's, we had a hard time starting any sort of discussion.. It was pretty chaotic actually. The husband was talking over everybody, the kids were being loud and at one point, someone's dog came into the house. So that was distracting as they were trying to figure out whose it was. The husband at one point started going off on how we worship Joseph Smith and how the Book of Mormon is a fake and stuff like that. His wife turned to him after a while and shouted, "HEY!" there was a really long pause and than the shouted again, "Shut up! Look at their name tags!" She pointed at my name tag, "It says The Church of Jesus Christ, not The Church of Joseph Smith, so shut up if you don't know what your talking about!" (I had to leave out a lot of language she used)
After a while things got a little more settled down. The conversation was still all over the place but their neighbor wasn't really joining in. There was a natural silence in the conversation and their neighbor said, "So... what is the Book of Mormon?"
We explained the Book of Mormon to her and for some reason we went into a lot more detail than we normally do. As we were explaining it she asked us how she might get a copy. Both Elder Crosby and I went to hand her one at the same time, it was pretty funny. As soon as we gave it to her, she opened it up and started scanning the pages. We kept explaining things to her. While we were talking, I noticed that she was quietly reading in 1 Nephi. She reached over and took a highlighter off of the computer desk and started to highlight it. I asked her what verse it was. I almost started laughing when she said, "Oh its nothing, it was just talking about how Jerusalem needed to be destroyed"
We shared some more verses with her and she highlighted more, and as we were leaving she said, "Thank you so much for this! Now I have something to pass down to my son!"
Also, my favorite thing about being out here is that is seems like the poorer people are, then the more humble they are. Every missionary in our district love what we call "Booney tracting" The people that live out in the boonies tend to be way more polite and humble and willing to hear what you have to say. We spent all day is a the city of Weippe. I wish it was it's own area because of how far away from Orofino it is And how much potential there is there. Really, I wish that there was a Peck/Weippe area. because both of those cities are too far away for us to visit very often and yet have plenty of people to teach and lots of inactive members.
One more funny experience and then i'll end this email. were having dinner with a family. Their 5 year old is one of the funniest little kids ever. Whenever we're leaving he runs outside yelling, "What the heck! Where's my hug?" He was talking to Elder Crosby and the conversation went like this.
"Do you like chocolate milk?"
"I do like chocolate milk"
"Do you have chocolate milk in your cup?"
"No, I have juice"
"What the heck!?"
Well that it for the week. Love all of ya
Also, you see the same people all over the place. For example, the same person who slammed the door in your face is your cashier at the store two days later. Which makes you feel pretty good about yourself as they ask you to, "have a good day"
My last email I mentioned a woman who chased us down in the street to ask us to come over. We went over to her house and had a great experience. haha we sat down and were talking to her husband while we were waiting for her. When she came in the room she said, "I'll be right back. I'm gonna go get my friend"
She came back with her neighbor, who was probably in her early 20's, we had a hard time starting any sort of discussion.. It was pretty chaotic actually. The husband was talking over everybody, the kids were being loud and at one point, someone's dog came into the house. So that was distracting as they were trying to figure out whose it was. The husband at one point started going off on how we worship Joseph Smith and how the Book of Mormon is a fake and stuff like that. His wife turned to him after a while and shouted, "HEY!" there was a really long pause and than the shouted again, "Shut up! Look at their name tags!" She pointed at my name tag, "It says The Church of Jesus Christ, not The Church of Joseph Smith, so shut up if you don't know what your talking about!" (I had to leave out a lot of language she used)
After a while things got a little more settled down. The conversation was still all over the place but their neighbor wasn't really joining in. There was a natural silence in the conversation and their neighbor said, "So... what is the Book of Mormon?"
We explained the Book of Mormon to her and for some reason we went into a lot more detail than we normally do. As we were explaining it she asked us how she might get a copy. Both Elder Crosby and I went to hand her one at the same time, it was pretty funny. As soon as we gave it to her, she opened it up and started scanning the pages. We kept explaining things to her. While we were talking, I noticed that she was quietly reading in 1 Nephi. She reached over and took a highlighter off of the computer desk and started to highlight it. I asked her what verse it was. I almost started laughing when she said, "Oh its nothing, it was just talking about how Jerusalem needed to be destroyed"
We shared some more verses with her and she highlighted more, and as we were leaving she said, "Thank you so much for this! Now I have something to pass down to my son!"
Also, my favorite thing about being out here is that is seems like the poorer people are, then the more humble they are. Every missionary in our district love what we call "Booney tracting" The people that live out in the boonies tend to be way more polite and humble and willing to hear what you have to say. We spent all day is a the city of Weippe. I wish it was it's own area because of how far away from Orofino it is And how much potential there is there. Really, I wish that there was a Peck/Weippe area. because both of those cities are too far away for us to visit very often and yet have plenty of people to teach and lots of inactive members.
One more funny experience and then i'll end this email. were having dinner with a family. Their 5 year old is one of the funniest little kids ever. Whenever we're leaving he runs outside yelling, "What the heck! Where's my hug?" He was talking to Elder Crosby and the conversation went like this.
"Do you like chocolate milk?"
"I do like chocolate milk"
"Do you have chocolate milk in your cup?"
"No, I have juice"
"What the heck!?"
Well that it for the week. Love all of ya