Fires.. pray for us 8-21-2023

 This week was nuts! 

On preparation day we hooped with some middle aged women and they whooped us  I made 2 points. 

On Tuesday we helped at a stake swap activity (yard sale but everything is free) I got a lamp for my uv plant grow light bulb. We then later spent some time on campus to try and find some college kiddos to teach. Down the sidewalk came a mob of sorority sisters headed to the local fraternity. Out of this random castle looking house poured a gathering of fraternity brothers. The 2 groups collided and then like a handful of them started kissing on each other  yo what. There's this funny thing college kiddos do, and it's heckling us missionaries. Some of them think they invented comedy and you just gotta roll with it haha. I made brownies with reeses pieces for 9pm dinner. Delisio!

On Wednesday  we participated in a zone leader exchange in Pullman. Washington State University (the Wazoo) is literally going crazy with the most diverse people of all time. I talked to Hindus, Muslims, Hispanics, Asians, rednecks, etc. There were two new missionaries for the young single adult ward in Pullman and one of them is the Elder Aiden Tenney (fun fact: his older brother was my FSY counselor last year) and he is an incredible missionary. The exchange was primarily spent walking and knocking apartment complexes. We talked to dozens of people and referred two super sweet younger gals to the sister missionaries. We also taught a brotha named Vishal who thinks it is evil to eat animals yikes. 

We woke up and it was Thursday. We had a mission wide zoom meeting with our health coordinator on AQI (air quality index) and I should've paid more attention because little did I know but that was foreshadowing..... (* read bottom of email for more information) We ended the exchange and the 4 of us Moscow Elders went to Scott's places (again) and moved 2 huge wood floor pieces. We also weekly planned  and had a fairly normal day.

Friday was wild. We participated in another exchange (I ran it back with the new missionary Elder Stringham fresh from Utah a week ago) he is a beast! He literally talked to everyone and testified of Jesus Christ and the Book of Mormon. We did our companionship study at the park and there was a group of high school aged kiddos who all sang randomized Disney songs with dance performances. My favorite song was "lost in the woods." The rendition sung at the park had nothing on Jonathan Groff but it was still pretty cool. There was a random guy who told us an out of pocket story of how Joseph Smith was making food and accidentally put mushrooms in his sandwich and that's how he "had" his vision. We lovingly shared the correct story and moved on. On campus we stumbled upon three cowboy looking, redneck acting men.  They were acting especially goofy and crude and one of them was holding a bullhorn. I made the comment, "I've always wanted to street preach with a bull horn." And he said, "bet." So I stood on the street corner and testified of the divinity of Jesus Christ for a few minutes. That was fun! We had dinner at a members home who is housing a displaced Romanian gentleman who may be interested in the gospel. It was a pleasant meal and the corn was delicious. We went for a stroll downtown and attempted some late night contacting. We had a few cordial conversations and went home for the night. 

Saturday morning we had zone breakfast  and enjoyed meeting the new missionaries and stake leadership again. Spiritual testimonies were borne, laughs were shared, and my weekly goal to avoid dairy was an afterthought. Later we did service for the Lassen family. They are in the top three of coolest families I've met in the mission field. After lunch my companion and I went on campus for the Palouse Festival! It was an orientation geared event for all university students and families. They had booths for all the different clubs and organizations! The band performed alongside the dance team! There were freebies everywhere (#sorrynotsorry mom) and we talked to tons of people. It was the craziest thing I've seen in a while! I also met Doug Wilson  (controversial pastor of Christ Church) he was kinda quiet and didn't want to talk to me :/ 

Sunday was pretty chill. We had a few friends come to church and the smoke was so bad in town. We did our companionship study in the gas station. We had a lesson with a solid member family and that's all folks! 

* our mission is getting hammered with forest fires right now. A few companionships have already been evacuated. I believe a majority of the fires are taking place near Spokane/Medical Lake. Even down here in Moscow we are dealing with loads of smoke. Our AQI is in the 300's (which according to the scientific people is crazy unhealthy) so we have been advised to avoid being outdoors for long periods of time. Pray for our missionaries, families, ward members and friends! Across the nation we are seeing fires (Maui, etc) I am doing well, I hope you enjoyed this update. God bless!