River Falls week 19

So this last P-Day was fantastic. Elder Cole and I stopped at a thrift shop and bought 6 classical Cds, including some celtic music we are stoked about, a CD player thing, and some super nice ties (which I got for 50 cents!). Then we went home and gave each other haircuts using some clippers a missionary who recently went home gave me. That was an interesting experience... Elder Cole has a bald patch behind one ear and I have this giant clump of hair on the crown of my head that Elder Cole totally missed. Ha ha. At Coordination Meeting our ward mission leader asked us where we got our haircuts. We told them we did it and he said oh ok. I was asking so I could stay clear of the place. ouch. The cuts aren't THAT bad...

I also  named my bike Shadowfax. Every time we are in a hurry I yell," With haste, Shadowfax!" Got to love Lord of the Rings. :)

ELder Cole and I were pretty sick this last week. He got sick last weekend and, being the kind companion he is, gave it to me. I almost had to stay in the apartment on 2 occasions but we had appointments so we went out. The appointments canceled and I put my head on a picnic table while Elder Cole made some calls. Every single lesson we had except 2 canceled this week. So that always makes for a really fun time. We tracted college areas and found some people we are looking forward to going back to see, but none of those meetings turned into a lesson. It also rained almost the entire week and all we do is bike, so that was pretty fun too. We tried to stick to some apartment buildings. THis week is supposed to be in the 70s, but then the snow is coming. The nights are getting quite cold and it gets dark around 7:15. People answer there door around 7:30 and complain that we are out so late. I look at my watch every time and say something along the lines of "it isnt late, it just seems like it because it gets dark so early..." 

I think Elder Cole and I will open up a maid service and start running it on P-Days. We got a referral from this nonmember to go talk to this lady with a lot of health issues. Well it turned into us cleaning her apartment, the apartment of someone she is a caretaker for, and now we get calls from random people saying they were referred from this woman for free labor. We love to help of course, but we also need to add to our teaching pool some how. We always help then return later to share a message. 

We were tracting a trailer park the other night and we met this man who had a few too many drinks. He proclaimed he was the mayor of the trailer park! Then he rambled something unintelligible about mormon temples and SLC. We meet some of the most interesting people tracting. 

Another time I was riding my bike and this man in a truck pulled up next to me and yelled at me," God doesn't love you!" I responded with,"but He loves you!" That wasnt the response he was expecting. 

Both Elder Cole and I both had some bike troubles this week. On the way to teach an investigator at the college campus I hit the brakes but then I hit a patch of mud and just kept going. I hit the curb of the sidewalk and flipped off my bike. It hurt a lot. My hip has a wonderful bruise. And of course everyone was staring at the strange boy in dress clothes who just hit the curb and flipped off his bike... Later that day Elder Cole had a bit of an accident. Elder Cole tends to get bored when he rides his bike. On this occasion he was trying to speed up, and hold himself up on his handle bars while dangling his feet below off of the pedals. Well you can imagine how that turned out. I looked forward to see him fall over and eat cement. His pants got ripped pretty bad and his leg started bleeding pretty bad. We went to a woman's house nearby whom we teach off and on and we patched him up. He cant bend his leg too well at the moment. 

While riding in the car Elder Cole told a delightful story: "My neighbors bought a cow and named it Steve. Then they butchered it and ate it." (Elder Cole's first name is Steven, just FYI) I died laughing. It reminded me of Anna Griffin's stories. So for those of you who havent had the opportunity to behold her marvelous story telling, I would suggest seeking her out.

One bright spot this week was teaching Brother D. We haven't been able to teach him much because he works inspecting water towers and travels all over the midwest. But he is so incredibly awesome. He practically taught us the message of the restoration through the questions he asked. He thinks that our message makes so much sense and he brings the BoM on his long trips to read in the hotels. Hopefully we can meet him more often than once every 3 weeks...

Well conference was pretty legit! 

I cannot say I had a favorite talk, because I have like 7 favorite talks, but two I really enjoyed were Elder Ulisses Soares on meekness. I have really been trying to seek this attribute out the last few weeks so I loved the talk. But man can he talk quick... I will need to re read that one. ha ha. I also LOVED Elder Quentin L. Cook's talk on bondage. I feel like I have been in "bondage" a lot in life with worldly things. Whether that was being glued to my iPhone at all times of the day or worshipping LeBron James and Peyton Manning every sundaynight. But the single greatest source of bondage in my life I think would have to be negativity. I need to follow the Lord's counsel, and commandment for that matter, Be of Good Cheer. Why should I always look at the negative when the Lord has given me so much? 

I also was delighted to hear Elder Holland talk on depression. I don't think people take it as seriously as it should be taken. 

A couple of themes I picked up on: missionary work tied with member work, role of women in society, cleansing power of the atonement, faith unto conversion, and chastity. 

I hope you all have a wonderful week! 

Love, Elder Damron