This week has just been very full of little amazing experiences that
have really made it all worth it. I know that not every day is going
to be completely full of once-in-a-lifetime opportunities but little
things throughout the whole week really do help.
We are still continuing to teach Vanessa and things are moving along
really well. We had a lesson on Tuesday with her mom there and also
her little sister. We had four members come with us to this lesson so
was kind of like a mini conference with guest speakers I guess you
could say. It was really funny because we were planning on teaching
the 10 Commandments and didn't really know what to do with this many
people but we decided to make it more of a game and gave each person a
commandment, that they had to memorize and do a hand signal for and
then we all just went around the circle and showed the commandment
that we had and talked a little bit about each one. Elizabeth had the
Commandment number four which is to keep the Sabbath day holy. And the
hand signal for that since it's number four is to hold up two rock 'n
roll signs on each of your hands which uses four fingers and you say
"don't rock out on Sundays, go to church." It is pretty funny to hear
her say that and she made sure that we all got a good laugh out of it.
On Sunday Vanessa had her baptismal interview with the zone leaders
and everything went really great. She was really nervous about having
to answer questions and talking to a stranger but we assured her that
everything was going to be okay and we even went over the questions
with her the day before. When she came out of the interview her face
just kind of beamed and you knew that she was excited and happy that
she was able to be baptized. Her baptism is set for this coming
Saturday at 2 o'clock and she has asked her Sunday school teacher
Brother Peterson to baptize her. I thought at first that it would be a
little sad that I wasn't able to do the baptism but I know that she
will have a better relationship and a longer lasting relationship with
brother Peterson because he lives here. I know that that is what the
church is all about. Relationships that we build with other people as
well as the relationships that we build with God. We cannot be more
excited for her and especially excited for the example that she is
being to her mother and also to her younger sister.
Once every six weeks we get to go and exchanges with the zone leaders
and it's always a fun day. When I had first come out I had a district
leader named Elder Barrus. I had been out for just under three months
and he had been out for just about a year when we met for the first
time. Well he is now my zone leader and has been out for 19 months and
I am a district leader and have been out for a whole year and we got
to go on exchanges on Wednesday. The whole thing seemed nostalgic. We
just remember all the times we had together before and the
relationship that we had built then. He is a really fun kid and just
loves life and is happy to be here so it's kind of contagious. We had
a super great day filled with wonderful teaching opportunities as well
as having fun on our bikes. He's in a car area so every opportunity he
gets to be on a bike he really takes full advantage of it. He was
jumping up and down curbs and just getting into mischief. For dinner
we went over to our investigators house named Amber. They fed us
fajitas and some tres Leche cake but in the end they had a little
surprise for us. They opened up the fridge and pulled out some Korean
delicacies one being kimchi and the other being dried anchovies. Just
for your information kimchi is cabbage that is been soaked in vinegar
and salt in a big jar and then they bury that jar in the ground for
six months and then take it out and that is what you eat. So basically
it's fermented nasty vinegary cabbage. They made me put a whole huge
chunk of it in my mouth and I think I lasted only but two seconds
before I had to spit it out and go into the bathroom without throwing
up. The droid anchovies were a different story. they weren't as bad
and I was able to stomach them but they were just so fishy tasting it
was it was not a pleasant experience.
The weather has been pretty humid here lately because of the monsoons
that we've been getting. It makes it a little sweaty but not as hot
which is always good. But the best part about the humidity in the
monsoons is by far the sunsets. There is really pretty and big puffy
clouds that just make it an unbelievable site. I try to stop as often
as I can it take pictures of the sunsets but you can only have so many
pictures of sunsets before there going to start looking the same.
Coming up in November we have the Phoenix temple dedication. It's a
great opportunity and a great privilege to be able to be a missionary
in this area while that is all taking place. We have learned what our
role as missionaries will be during that time and we are learning what
the youth are going to do for the cultural celebration. Everybody is
pretty jazzed about it and talking about it all the time. It's a great
missionary opportunity for the people here to invite their friends and
to talk with them and show them just what we believe in and why we
build temples. I know that a lot of great things are going to come
from this and I'm already seeing a lot of blessings come from it.
We played softball for a zone activity and felt it necessary to go to
goodwill and get all dressed up so that's what the amazing outfits
are. Enjoy.
Well I love you all and hope you have a great day and week!
Until next week,
Elder Cole Safford
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| Enjoying the Arizona sunset |
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| Rockin' the Goodwill |
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