A Wonderful Surprise

10-30-13

*I got an unexpected letter in the mail!  It was a wonderful surprise that I wasn't expecting!

Mom,

Those stories you shared are so funny.  I could just imagine the whole Relief Society crying.  (I told him about the sister missionaries teaching the lesson and then talking about the sacrifices they've had to make as missionaries and how almost the entire Relief Society was in tears-it was almost comical).  Hopefully, Daniel is doing fine (a young man he used to rogue potatoes with).  I'm sure he is because he is a super hard worker.  Katelyn's story is funny, as well.  (She's a young lady in our ward serving in Colorado.  She sent a letter telling about a guy only believing in his Marijuana, not God).  So many people down here do drugs.  You can always tell who drug dealers are because they always drive Lincoln Navigators in really poor apartment complexes.  They get busted on a daily basis.  Here's my week:

Worst:  Some other missionaries had a baptism lined up for a Haitian lady on Saturday evening, but it got cancelled about an hour before because she had a massive seizure right before and ended up in the hospital.  However, she is fine now and they are going to reschedule her baptism.

Funniest:  Every Tuesday we go and sing hymns at a resting home full of people who have Alzheimers and a less-active lives there (Maggie).  Some other lady, who use to be a Baptist, was singing along with us, but she was practically screaming the words.  So Maggie got mad and started to chew her out and tell her to stop singing.  The lady kept singing and Maggie slapped her!  After that we took Maggie and made sure that she stayed right next to us the rest of the time.

Best:  We went to the Skunk-Ape Museum out in the Everglades for P-day.  I held some pretty big pythons, boas, an alligator, and some birds.  It was so much fun, and we stopped by the smallest post office in the U.S.  I hope you got the post card from it.  Sorry my handwriting is hard to read.  I was writing in a moving car.  I got a bunch of pictures of it all, so I'll post them soon.

Most Spiritual:  This last Sunday was really nice.  I've been studying in the book of Abraham, and there is a lot of cool things in there that I didn't know about.  Also, the last District meeting we had was really good, but awkward.  We did "I love you because..." where everyone takes a turn standing in the middle and everyone else says why they love that person.  It took quite awhile, too.  When it was my turn, everyone said that I was too quiet (surprise, surprise), but they all had good things to say about my work ethic and my knowledge of the gospel.  I'm not so sure about that second thing because I feel like I hardly know anything compared to almost everyone in our District.  I have learned a lot about it, though, since I've been out.

Love,
Elder A. Whaley