This last week its been pretty good. We had the car, and oh what a blessing its been. It has been in the upper 90's and over 50% humidity on some days. We get out of the car and say "Hey it isn't so bad" and within 5 minutes we can feel the drops of sweat going down our backs as we walk around in the neighborhoods.
We visited with a woman who has been investigating the church for a long time now, almost 2 years. We spent an hour at her house and talked with her and also fixed a few things for her.
Today has been a very interesting day. We had our Zone Conference and also it was a Mission Tour. The General Authority that is here is Gary Coleman (no not the "What you talkin' 'bout Willis). We had training with him this morning. We share the car with a set of sister missionaries, and this is their week to have the car. One of them is having some health concerns. During the mission tour this morning they took her to the hospital and I think she might be sent home. So it may look like we have the car again this week. Her companion might be sent to be in a 3-some and who knows, maybe we will get a full car in this area. The Lord works in mysterious ways. I have been worried about biking in this heat. It just gets so hot and you sweat so much and it can get hard to tell if you need water or not.
This last Saturday we went to the Torgersons (Brother T is the guy who makes custom guitars) and we did yard work for him. We mowed his lawn and then raked up all of these leaves that have built up under his trees. He wants to have removed so he can put moss in. I was in the shade raking up leaves for most of the time that I was there. I still was drenched in sweat. I was very glad that I got to spend most of the day there at his house. I thanked Brother T for letting us come over when we were at church yesterday and he said we were welcome to come over anytime. Oh and by the way (I may have told you this already) Brother T served his mission here, So he has a lot of stories about the area and the mission that he loves to share with us. He is also a comedian of sorts and always says something to make you laugh, so he reminds me of Christian. The Members are just so awesome here! The teaching pool is still very low, but we still try to work hard. I just kind of feel that really all we can do is try to gain trust with the members and get referrals from them. This last quarter the Zone leaders were told that the majority of baptisms were because of member referrals, if I remember it was over 70% of all of them. I still have been kind of stressed out about all of this. Things I'm sure will get better with time.
It seems like everything is going a million miles a minute, especially when I look back at how far I've come. I've almost been out for 2 months and that is just crazy!! It doesn't feel like its been that long and I do hope it continues to be like that. Since the teaching pool is low right now, we have spent a lot of time doing drop-by's and seeing if there are less actives that want to be taught or if there is former investigators that are interested. Most aren't, and so that can be discouraging. I know we shouldn't give up and we haven't. President Hobbs has told me a few times that He knows that this is where I need to be. Right now at the time in my life this is where I need to be and where else would I be? There isn't anything else that is more important than being here now.
This area is really great. I just love the members! And it is just so green. We could get rid of the Humidity if I had the choice. But Elder Brown says that that is the thing we have to deal with for living in the "Garden of Eden" :)
Well that is all for this week. I'll keep you posted on all that is going on. I can't wait to read your letters next Monday. I love you all
Love
Elder Colton
