It's August...

Hey Ya'll,

I can't believe that its August already. This is the last August I will have on the mission. I'm done with June and July too, yipee!! I didn't know that President Jensen called, but I will let him know that his message was greatly appreciated. I'm glad that people think I'm doing a good job, especially if its President.
Tallahassee is hotter than ever. Its reached 104 multiple times this last week. It makes getting out and talking to people dificult. Standing in their doorway, with sweat dripping off my face is not exactly the way we want to present ourselves to the people. However, we keep working and the sweat keeps dripping. Its been abnormally dry lately. That makes the heat rise because there is no rain to cool it off. Its like we're caught between a rock and a hard place though. Without the rain it gets supper hot cause there's nothing to cool it off. With the rain the humidity shoots right up making it hard to breathe and easy to sweat. Either way it sucks. We've been drinking so much fluids. I've never seen so many empty Gatorade bottles since I was home (no one can beat our house in Gatorade bottles). Its been a good week with the heat anyway.

We weren't able to get Angel to church this week. That means her baptismal date is going to be pushed back until later in August. Sis Simmons joined us for church though. During the week she told us that she wasn't going to be able to make it. We met with them on Thursday and Sis Simmons said that she has some important business that she needed to take care of on Sunday. We told her that we would miss her, we told her that Angel needs to come if she wants to get baptized, we told her that Sis Campbell would come pick her up. None of these helped the issue. "I'll miss you too, I want to be there," was all she would say. So we played the trump card. Any idea what that would be? Probably not, since none of you know Sis Simmons, but the trump card is 'Fast and Testimony Meeting'. Sis Simmons LOVES to bear her testimony. We told her that because its the first of the month its Testimony meeting on Sunday and that we would love to hear her testimony. Well that won her heart faster than she could say "Hallelujah, praise Jesus!" Sis Simmons called us the next day saying that she was going to be at church, "God willing," of course. Well Sis Simmons did show up to church. Angel couldn't make it, but Sis Simmons was there in all white ready to bear her testimony. Before Brother Thomas finished announcing that the meeting was open to everyone to share, Sis Simmons was half way up the stand. She got up and bore an awesome testimony. One only Sis Simmons could share. And as always, the phrase, "I've been off of Crack and Cocaine for 11 years," did come up. We love Sis Simmons to death. I don't know if I shared with you, but the other week she shared with us how she stabbed a guy ten times for laying hands on her. Yeesh, I'm not doing that blessing.

Zone Conference was great. As I predicted, President Jensen learned so much from the previous zone conferences and was ready to go. President Campbell, from the Stake Presidency, was there and shared with us the goals for the Stake and how we can help the Ward Leaders and members. It was great and we've been trying to implement them into our ward. So far so good. President Jensen taught us about the authority and who is in charge of missionary work; Stake Presidents and Bishops. President Campbell confirmed that when he got up and spoke to us. Sis Jensen taught us too. She was a first grade teacher before, so we had little handouts, a few game type activities and then an object lesson. It wasn't bad, but I felt like a first grader. Zone Conference overall was great. Afterward we were talking one with another. BYU is coming soon. On the 17th, or 16th, BYU is doing a fireside at the stake center and a tailgate party on Game day. Elder Brinkerhoff's dad is in charge of the Fireside and tailgate party, he said that we as missionaries may get the chance to feed and serve everyone during the tailgate. Either way, its going to be awesome and I'm going to request to stay in Tallahassee, for sure!!

I love you all and I"m so grateful for the support that you give me. For all the things I've learned from you and continue to learn from you. Thank you.
Love Elder Call

Ties that Bind:
Hey Brother's!!